Despair Hill Zone
by TheHunterPersian
Summary: Charmy Bee has been selected to join Green Hills, a prestigious school which only allows "Ultimates", anyone the very best at what they do. But upon arriving, he, along with his 16 other classmates have found themselves trapped within the walls of the school. Should they want to leave, the headmaster says they have to do one thing: Kill. Adapted from Spike's Danganronpa, M RATED
1. Prologue (Part 1)

**(AN: Well, hi everyone. I know it has been nearly 4 months since I last updated, and don't worry, I'm not dead. Planning this fic has been possibly the longest thing coming, and honestly? I had no idea this fic would be so ambitious. But, it is, and here I am writing it.**

 **To be honest, the ideas of this fic came from watching an LP of the first Danganronpa game and thinking 'Hm, I wonder how this would be like with Sonic characters", and I went from there, from imagining the scenarios to the ultimates to everything.**

 **Now for those of you who aren't aware of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, it's a visual novel game where the main character is imprisoned in a school by a bear robot along with 14 other students, where they only way they can get out is to kill without being caught. This fic is an adaptation of this game, however with many new additions to it, mainly so I can include my own original ideas and not have it where I'm just copy and pasting the whole script. This is more or less a straight adaptation, but not to worry: regardless of whether you've played DR or not, you don't need to be familiar with it to understand what's going on.**

 **Before I begin, it's important I bring this up and address this point properly since I got a review about this: Despair Hill Zone is an ADAPTATION of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, and while it does follow the script like most adaptations do (I.E. book to movie, etc), that doesn't mean everything is going to be exactly the same. In fact, I would say that reading this fic is NOT a substitute for playing the game, as this fic contains different scenarios that will be seen later on in the story, and would encourage readers to play the game themselves to enjoy the story in its original format. This fanfic is simply a fun little project to imagine the first game but with Sonic characters as well as adding to my own original writing and editing to it. If you are a fan of the series, then it's easy to tell which character is supposed to be whom, but understand that not everyone will know out of not knowing or playing the series.**

 **With that out of the way, this brings me to two points: First, DR and Despair Hill Zone has some moments of graphic violence and depictions of murder scenes, so this fic will be rated M because of it, and I advise that people under 17 don't read, as some of the mentioned scenes above in this fic may be more gruesome than in the original game that this fic is adapting, and can be distressing for some people. There is also some suggestibe themes too, so I'll warn of that in advance as well.**

 **The second is that DR is a notoriously easy game to spoil, so therefore, I ask you to NOT spoil what happens if you have played the game and know what happens. I'll be moderating all reviews and if there are any spoilers, I will remove them, as I want the reader to come up with any theories for themselves, and to enjoy the mystery of the story.**

 **Due to the length, I have split the prologue, alongside various future chapters, into two parts, sometimes three, but mostly two. I don't want to info dump you with so much at once, and after all, there's only so much you can write before you potentially bore an audience (at least, that's my idea). Also, this fic is my first attempt to write in the first person, so apologies if there's anything weird and awkward in them.**

 **I'd like to extend my great thanks to softlysharp, who has agreed to proofread this entire prologue and somehow did it all in an hour.**

 **With that, I'd like to welcome you back to my fics, as we enjoy... well, what I'm sure will be some top quality despair from you all...)**

 **Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, all concepts and story ideas are owned by Spike Chunsoft and credited to one Kazutaka Kodaka, Sonic the Hedgehog and all characters and locations are owned by SEGA and Sonic Team. This story is a fun project and not meant for profit at all!**

* * *

 _Within a dark, cold room, a reptilian man found himself tied to a chair, gagged and blindfolded._

 _However, even with his senses deprived, he knew who was sitting right in front of him: That man..._

 _The egg-shaped man in question simply watched as the reptile struggled in his chair, trying his best to get out. He began to chuckle, knowing full and well that escape was the last thing that was going to happen to him._

 _Pressing a button in front of him, the reptile was pushed back from his chair as he began to let out a muffled scream. His hands attached to the handle of a rocket behind him, chaining him there. The rocket turned on, lighting up the display on it. It was that of the face of the egg-shaped man: one side of his glasses normal, the other lens a dark red blood color..._

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _Zooming Around at the Speed of Sound!_**

 _The rocket began to take off, crashing through the multiple ceilings in front of him as he began to zoom around in a circle in the sky. Then, he shot ahead with a burst of lighting fast speed, soon circling the entire planet. Seconds later after what could be described as record-breaking speed, the rocket crashed back down in front of the egg-shaped man, completely on fire. As it crashed, the chair that the reptile was tied up in was completely shattered, as all that was left of him was a skeleton. The egg-shaped man began to chuckle again as his moustache and nose twitched with each laugh._

 _If only the world knew this was the beginning..._

* * *

 **In the present time..**

Sometimes I had to ask myself a few things. Like, am I REALLY lucky? Or is whatever happening to me just pure dumb luck, or heck, even just pure unluckiness in general?

They always say there are some things in life you never really can know the answer to. Like, "What's the meaning of life?" or like, "When were canned fruits invented?". Either way, there's plenty of mystery to life itself.

So what only adds to that is the letter I got before my academic year started.

 **"Dear Mr. Charmy Bee,**

 **As you may be aware, Green Hills is a prestigious zone where only an "Ultimate" can attend (An Ultimate being any one individual who has extreme talent at one activity or the such) to build the future of Mobius against any kind of villain who wishes to harm it. However, each year we do a drawing for all regular students on Mobius to join our wonderful zone and to make the future of Mobius bright. In our latest drawing, we have selected you as the lucky winner of this year's selection. As such, you will be joining us this academic year as the "Ultimate Average Student".**

 **Term begins on September 1st, all supplies will be provided, including textbooks, food, uniform, etc. Your guidebook to the zone, known as the PAD, will be provided should you enroll. We hope to see you there, and don't forget: You and your classmates are the future heroes of Mobius!**

 **-signed, The Headmaster of Green Hills Zone"**

"Wow, Charmy!" my sister Saffron said that night at dinner. "It's so great to hear you got into a zone like that!"

"Exactly. You must be a very lucky kid," my father said. "I'm sure you'll do great."

Mom passed me the salad bowl. "And you'll be making new friends too. What kind of people do you think will be there?"

I just shrugged. "I dunno mom, I'm hoping someone nice. I bet everyone there is probably more interesting than I am."

"He's got a point," Saffron said. "I mean, look there! Ultimate Average Student? Wow. Just ask for a refund, either that or they're not wrong."

"Saffron!" My parents scolded.

"What? It's true."

"Now that's enough teasing, alright?" Dad said, taking a sip from his cup of juice. "And Charmy, you might want to head to bed early tonight. Opening ceremony is tomorrow, and I don't want you to miss it."

"Of course, of course," I said. "Just wake me up early okay?"

"Charmy, you're 15. You have to start waking yourself up too you know."

"And if I miss the opening ceremony and miss out at this once in a lifetime opportunity?"

This shut up my dad, who went back to eating what was left of his potatoes.

However, Saffron did have a point... that night, I couldn't help but stay awake as I stared at the ceiling. What kind of people really are going to be there? And how could I even compare to them?

Next to my bed on the floor lay my laptop, asleep for the next day. Or at least... until I can ask my parents to ship it should I need it.

"Maybe I can try and find something online..." I murmured, grabbing my laptop and opening it up as it turned on.

* * *

 **The next day...**

I made sure I was looking at the right area. Sure enough, a massive building with a warp ring at the very top, towering above all the other buildings in the city. As I looked at it, I felt a little intimidated. After all, it was almost like this building was the center of the world, and everyone around it were just its little slaves.

Green Hills Zone... If I remember correctly from my letter and what it said online, it brings in top students from every field imaginable to become the so-called 'next generation heroes of Mobius'. Everything about the zone just from this one building alone screamed privilege and government funding.

In fact, since I heard about this place, I always knew there was one thing everyone said: If you graduate from here, you're set for life. Considering that this place has been around for hundreds of years, it sends the best of the best out into the world, shaping up its students into 'heroes' for the future of the world and the benefit of good. Its goal since day 1 was to build hope, and honestly? I've seen Green HIlls alumni do some amazing work.

From what I already knew, there were two things you needed to attend Green Hills: you needed to already be in grades 9-12, and two, you needed to be the very best at what you do. That's why no ordinary person like me could just walk in all willy-nilly, in fact, the only way in is if the zone scouts you itself.

And in front of the gates leading to the tall building, leading to that warp ring at the top, was me.

Oh... I'm sorry... I don't think I've introduced myself properly have I? I know my family and my letter have mentioned my name, but I think I need to give the introduction here.

My name is Charmy Bee, I'm 15 and I've just been accepted to Green Hills.

If my letter isn't obvious, I'm the pure definition of average, both on the outside and inside.

I mean... I get okay grades, I don't have many special abilities, or heck, not even the world's most exciting personality. Okay so don't get me wrong, I'm really NOT the world's most boring person, I mean I DO have hobbies but I'm not like some world saving hero or someone whose ancestors are extinct yet did a lot of stuff in their times. Heck, not even my hobbies are really anything to write home about. Like, if you asked me, "What was my favorite song/video game/movie/TV show/etc", I'd probably just say whatever was popular at the time. Like, that new single by Mina Mongoose, or that new Werehog movie in 3D? How about that new Tomatopotamus game which was an online MMO? Or even "All My Passions" starring Merlina Pendragon... yeah, I'm rambling at this point. I'm sure you get the idea now.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that when I compare myself to the other people I know are going to be here, I feel weirdly... out of place? Like, I'm average, and I'm not even your "everyday hero" type. It's kinda like... who am I? Either way, that's my introduction. But you know, if I did have something nice to say about myself... I think I find myself being rather positive in dark times. People have described me as a walking sugar rush, and I guess they're not wrong, even if I've calmed down on it as the years go by.

Even then, it's not like I have everything going for me. Here I was: a 2'3 bee buzzing my wings in front of my future zone, wearing my usual orange jacket, black pants, orange and white shoes, and of course, my trusty helmet that I wear all the time. And even with my ordinary look, here I was in front of the least ordinary place in the city.

"Jeez... I still can't believe I'm here of all places..." I mused. "Can I even survive in a place like this?"

I always heard from people at my zone of Emerald Hills that those kids in those rich private zones tend to be really stuck up and very classist, with the idea that anyone in the middle or lower class were pretty much peasants. I wondered if people were like that here, even if no one spent money to get here. I mean, this place towered over me with an overwhelming presence, almost as if the building was going to tip forward and look down upon me. Can you blame me though?

You see, last night I DID stay up late getting ready for tonight. Since Green Hills only invites the elite in their field, there's so many websites and message boards dedicated to this place. And so, until my eyes grew heavy, I looked through all the threads to see the new messages and announcements on who'll be this year's students.

That I think was my first mistake.

Everyone talked about the "Ultimates", the title you got once you knew you were the best at something. I looked through each one, reading every one of them.

The first incoming student I read about for example was the "Ultimate Gardener". She's a young freshman who apparently began gardening at a super young age and has grown over three dozen record breaking fruits, vegetables, and flowers. There was also the "Ultimate Runner". I heard about this guy in particular, in fact, mostly everyone at my zone knew about him. Every record in regards to track was broken by him, He's so good that apparently, pro teams already have their eyes on him. And, he had even begun his career of being what the acceptance letter called a 'hero'. If there was something he was known by, it was his nickname: The Blue Blur.

Next was one I found a little weird, the "Ultimate Jewel Thief". As the name implies... she's a jewel thief, and is perfectly open about showing off all the jewelry she steals, including a very expensive and highly valuable blue diamond ring that I read was worth over 3.9 million rings! In spite of her basically committing crime, I read that she's apparently a member of G.U.N., Central City's military. Afterwards there was the "Ultimate Extreme Gear Racer". I knew about this guy too. He appeared on TV every Sunday for weekly Extreme Gear races and tournaments, and he and his team always won each time. He's the best of the best when it comes to EX Gear racers, and supposedly this is because his ancestors were the ancient Babylonians who invented the sport of Extreme Gear racing. Although, a lot of people on the message board spread rumors that alongside racing, he's also a thief too. I didn't know how truthful that was though...

Oh, and I remember one I distinctly found weird: the "Ultimate Telekinetic". Supposedly, this guy was born with the power of ESP, and can move things around with no problems. He's even helped countries in natural disasters with getting rubble out of the way and can even rebuild stuff using it. I won't lie, I was really skeptical. I mean, if anyone told you ESP and telekinesis were real, would you believe them?

Besides those to name a few, there's a few others I read about. For example, there was the Ultimate Shopper, the Ultimate Pacifist, the Ultimate Bodyguard, the Ultimate Fisher, the Ultimate Ninja, the Ultimate Guardian, the Ultimate Mechanic, the Ultimate Detective, and that's not even all of them. Reading about all of these people made me feel powerless, like everyone else was Mobius' top, and then here comes Charmy Bee: Mobius' bottom. I felt like a newborn Chao in a field full of light and dark Chao.

But even still, there was something I couldn't stop thinking about... There were some I couldn't find info on. The most glaring of them? Me.

"Well jeez... that doesn't help..." I told myself.

But now that brought about a bigger issue: how did someone like me even get in here? Was I REALLY picked by drawing? Or did they feel so bad for me that they were drunk and just threw a dart at some random sophomore one night and that target just so happened to be me?

Honestly, I should have said no but... hearing the whole "Graduating = success" thing, well, it couldn't have been false, right?

But standing in front of the building... I felt lost and like I didn't belong here. However, I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

"I can't stay here forever," I told myself. I held my acceptance letter tight, telling me to head to the warp ring at the top which will take me to the zone where Green Hills was located. Once arriving, I was to be there at the main hall at eight. It was 7:46 right now, so I still had time.

"I should just head inside..." I said, puffing my chest out as the gates began to open. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

Gathering up my determination, I buzzed towards the buildings and open the front door. The first thing I noticed was two attendees wearing similar matching uniforms.

"Mr. Charmy Bee I presume?" one of them asked.

"Welcome to Green Hills. From here, head to the elevator at the top of the building, and enter the warp ring," the other said.

"Thanks!" I replied, buzzing over to the elevator. I suddenly got a burst of adrenaline. So what if I was different from the others? That doesn't mean I couldn't be friends with them, or even have a good time. Yeah... yeah I could see myself having a group of friends here! To think I was so negative this morning, I felt like a new person! Or bee in my case anyway...

Entering the elevator, I pressed the button for the top floor as it began to rise up. I took the time to calm my nerves as relaxing elevator music played. Soon, not even a minute later, the doors opened as I saw the massive warp ring in the middle of the room.

There it was... the thing that would take me to my new zone. Who knew this one ring would be something that would change so much?

I braced myself as I buzzed forward, touching the warp ring and disappearing. I soon began to travel through the green and blue dimension, ready to take on any adversity that would come in my way. I wouldn't be afraid, nor would I feel like I didn't belong. I'd be me, the person I always was!

However, as I motivated myself, something in the dimension changed.

All the color suddenly became a blood red, and something about my body changed. I felt cold, and I felt paralyzed. I wanted to yell, scared about what was happening, but no voice came from my throat. And then, I felt faint... VERY faint. My body slowly grew weaker and weaker as what left of my consciousness felt my body going through the warp ring's dimension. Seconds passed, and I felt my vision blur and blacken over and over. The last thing I remember before passing out was someone, or something laughing...

I don't know why I didn't notice then and there... with things beginning this way, I should have realized that I wasn't brought to Green Hills because I got lucky in a drawing...

But because I was going to experience firsthand what ultimate despair feels like...

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents...**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **PROLOGUE:**

 **Despair Hill Zone Act 1**

* * *

…

…

…

I soon found myself waking up.

"...wha? ...Where am I?"

I was sitting in a desk, in the same position I'd be in whenever I'd be napping in class. My body felt weirdly heavy. It felt so weird though... what was I doing here? I haven't been in a classroom like this. Is this Green Hills?

"What the hell is going on?" I said, getting my head up. I began to look around the classroom, seeing in front of me was a giant chalkboard and a podium. The walls around me were covered in some yellow wallpaper. As I turned to the side, I noticed two VERY peculiar things. The first was the windows in the classroom.

"What the?..." I said to myself, buzzing up to them. There was some metal plate over it, as well as large screws holding it in place. I knocked on it, I confirmed that it was pure, thick metal.

"But why is this even here?"

I was getting scared. What was this place? And why is it that the more time I spent here, the more I felt like this was some kind of prison? What didn't help was the next peculiar thing I saw. In the corner of my eye, I saw a security camera. I mean, it felt WEIRD for it to be there, but Mobius has been having some trouble with zone shootings in some cities. I guess having these here wouldn't be terrible... but even then, why in a classroom?

I looked back to the desk I was in and noticed a folded-up piece of paper. Picking it up, I read it. "TO THE NEW KID" was written on the top left corner of the paper.

"Is this an orientation guide? It looks so cheap..." I mused. Then I read what the paper actually said.

 ** _"The next semester is about to start. Starting today, this zone will be your entire world."_**

This only freaked me out more. "Is this some kind of joke?!" I yelled, feeling my arms turn into jelly as they shook. I looked up at the clock, it was past 8... how could such a little amount of time just pass?

"Okay Charmy... calm down..." I told myself, taking deep breaths. "So, I think what might have happened was that I came to the zone passed out, someone found me and took me here? Then this means... this is a Green Hills classroom!"

 _"But that raised only more questions,"_ I thought to myself. _"Then what about the metal plates? This is supposed to be a zone, not a prison."_

I knew I couldn't be here forever. I had to find the main hall. The other students had to be there. As I took my piece of paper, I couldn't help but notice the TV close to the door. It made sense for it to be there since this place is a private zone, but... it felt off.

Leaving the classroom, I walked into a hall that was entirely purple. The walls were purple, the lights were purple, even the tiled floors were purple with black.

"This is getting stranger and stranger... I have no idea what's going on. But for now, I have to head to the main hall," I said. Turning right from where I was, the first thing I noticed were a twin pair of large red doors.

"Wonder where this leads to?" I asked myself, trying to open it but to no avail. Turning back around, I began to try any place that was in front of me. The two classrooms were locked, and as I headed off, I noticed the only non-purple thing in the room: an arch heading off to a place a stone slab next to it called, "Despair Hotel".

That name really didn't help the situation I was in.

Since I knew the main hall wasn't there, I turned around and headed to the right most hallway before the twin red doors, where the halls, lights, and floors all were green this time. I passed by more rooms... A/V Room, Zone Store, a Nurse's office, two bathrooms, and at the end of the hall, a gate closing off a flight of stairs, and the Gym. With no place left, I turned around again, there was a pair of open doors. Could this be it?

I entered inside and sure enough, I saw... everyone.

In front of me were 16 other kids, all of them of so many shapes, color, sizes, and species. This must have been them, the "Ultimates"... and by looking at them, they just screamed it.

"Whoa, hey! Another new kid!" I saw and heard a white colored hedgehog say.

"Huh? Then it is true... you guys must be?"

"Of course. We're all new here. Today was our first day of class," a timid echidna girl said.

"But as you can tell... we're all in this dump," a green hawk added, arms crossed.

"So counting this guy... there's seventeen people here. It feels like a weird number, so I wonder if this is everyone..." a large purple cat said rather slowly.

I looked at everyone standing in front of me, all of them with different expressions, posture, etc. Honestly, I think just one of them would have been overwhelming as such, but this was 16 of them... They all let out an aura about them... I guess the only thing I could do was be friendly.

"Uh... Hi! I'm Charmy Bee. I guess I'm your new classmate. Sorry if I'm late, some stuff just happened while warping here and I woke up on a desk," I said. The white hedgehog wearing the cyan hoodie looked surprised.

"Whoa, you too?" he asked. Did he go through the same thing?

A lavender cat wearing some purple cloak stepped forward. I wouldn't lie... she felt very exotic. The gem on her forehead I think may have been the clearest sign of that.

"Things just keep getting more curious," she mused.

The purple cat from earlier spoke up too. "This is so strange... It's like, this is a guaranteed strange thing going on..."

"Uh, what are you going on about? I'm so confused right now."

A large albatross spoke up then. "Don't worry kid, I think we all are."

I wouldn't lie, HE definitely hulked over me. With a ripped up grey shirt displaying his large biceps and his looming presence, I think he was someone I didn't want to mess with.

"Yeah, but before we do that. I gotta address something!" a blue hedgehog with a track shirt said. He pointed his finger straight at me. "Charmy Bee! You're too slow! I was the first one to get here on time, and we had to all wait for you! You have wings, can't you fly?!"

Jeez, what's with this guy? I know he's the blue blur I saw on the forum but was this how he was actually like?

My thoughts were interrupted by him laughing. "Aw don't take it seriously! No one is even as fast as me! But don't worry though, I think we'll have a good time regardless! No hard feelings, right?"

Ah, so this guy is a huge jokester... I mean I guess it makes sense now but surely, I know he's heard of the phrase: "First impressions matter".

A white bat wearing rather a short shirt and shorts began to fiddle with the fur on her head. "Jeez guy, don't scare him like that. Even if you are joking, it's not like he wanted to be late. We all didn't have control over that."

Then a pink hedgehog wearing some rather expensive looking designer clothes then perked up. "Everyone, let's calm down! Listen, how about we introduce ourselves while we wait for something to happen!" she said.

The black hedgehog by the corner looked at the pink hedgehog girl. "The hell? Introductions? We don't have time for crap like that!"

"I guess you have a point, but maybe it might be for the best to find out who we all are before we dig into the bigger problem here. I mean, how can we talk to each other if we don't know our names?" the lavender cat said.

"You have a good point..." the echidna girl said.

"Okay, so let's get introductions out of the way. Then we can move on! Sound good?" said a small rabbit girl.

"Some of us actually know who we are, but I guess if we must..." mused a purple swallow girl.

I was a little lost, but perhaps that cat had a point. Maybe it is for the best if we got to know each other. So I guess this is my first chance! I looked at everyone on the list last night, but I don't know how they are... I guess I'll find out.

But my question was...

Where do I start?


	2. Prologue (Part 2)

**(AN: Welcome back to the second part of the Prologue of Despair Hill Zone! Right now I'm super late for work so I can't make this too long, but due to the overall length of this prologue, I had to split this into two parts. I do apologize. For now, let's meet all the students of Green Hills Zone, and wonder... where do we go from here?**

 **Because Despair isn't too far off...)**

* * *

I looked at the first group of people in front of me. _"I guess I'll start there,"_ I thought to myself, walking up to the very large purple cat. He wore a fisherman's vest and had on a black shirt underneath it, complete with sandals and a pair of beige shorts. This guy just... towered over me, and I could easily tell he was the tallest and biggest person here.

The cat simply stared at me with his small yellow eyes, not saying a word.

"Uh, hello?" I said, trying to start up a conversation.

"Hi there... I'm Big the Cat," he said.

 **Ultimate Fisherman**

 **BIG THE CAT**

Oh yeah, I remember reading about this guy. From what the threads said, Big was orphaned at a young age, and lived by himself for as long as he can remember. However, he ended up taking up fishing, and soon made a name for himself amongst fishers around the world by setting records for biggest specific species of fish caught. He even once set a world record for largest fish caught in the world too.

I wasn't really the biggest fan of fishing, but in his little circle? He's a legend.

"Don't be afraid of me... I just wanna be friends... Is that okay with you?..." He asked. I won't lie, sure he talked rather slow, and while he was teased on the thread for being slow and simple minded... He didn't have any harm to bring me.

"Of course not. As long as you don't mind me not being the biggest fishing fan in the world," I replied.

"I don't mind. I'm glad to hear," he smiled.

"So uh, is those records you set really true?"

"Oh, you know about them? Yeah... I did do those, but I don't see why people make them out a big deal. I just like to fish with my pal Froggy."

"Froggy?"

"My pet frog. He's the bestest friend I ever had!"

 _"Your best friend is a frog? Uh... yeah, I can tell you're not really the MOST social person in the world,"_ I thought. Of course, not that there's anything WRONG with that...

"Either way, Mr. Charmy Bee, I can't wait to meet everyone!" Big said. I won't lie, maybe his simple-mindedness makes him his own person. I guess I'll have to see how he's like later.

The next person to Big was a small fox, although he was a little taller than me. He had on an orange shirt, a pair of goggles around his neck, a messenger bag around his shoulder, dark blue shorts, and red and white shoes. The most peculiar thing about him wasn't his wardrobe, but about this fox himself. He weirdly had... two tails.

 _"I think I'll ask about that,"_ I thought to myself.

"Ah, hello!" He said in a chipper voice, adjusting his goggles. "I kinda get a little weird when it comes to introductions, so you can call me... Tails."

 **Ultimate Sidekick**

 **TAILS THE FOX**

"Tails? Is that actually your name?" I asked. What kind of parent would name their kid that?...

"Ha ha, I'll neither confirm nor deny that!" he replied, smiling.

"Anyway, those two tails-"

"Are real. I get this question ALL the time. Yeah, I was born with them,"

He sounded rather defensive... Did I insult him?

"W-well, I guess that was my first question. I guess my second question is... Ultimate Sidekick?" I replied, trying to dance around the awkward situation. I saw him in the thread, but no one kinda did go into specifics about him...

"Ah that! You know the blue hedgehog guy you talked to? That's Sonic! I'm actually his best friend! So much that I'm basically his sidekick whenever he goes out to fight evil, or do any real thing actually! We've been best friends since kindergarten, and I don't see that changing anytime soon!"

"So that's why you're the UItimate Sidekick?"

"Yeah! He can depend on me any ol' time, and not to mention, since I'm a great mechanic, I know a thing or two about helping him with anything!"

Man... him and that Sonic guy must have an unbreakable bond. I'm rather jealous to be honest...

"So, you're Mr. Charmy Bee? Well, even if you don't have an ultimate talent, I won't make you feel alienated!"

"That's a relief," I joked.

This guy also seems rather friendly. Not full of himself, and he seems to have great bonds with people... Still, how did he and Sonic become such good friends if that's how he was earlier?

Whatever, I had to talk to the next person. After Tails was a short rabbit girl wearing a straw hat with a little sunflower on it, along with a yellow and blue gradient sundress. She smiled as she saw me walk up to her.

"Hi, I'm Cream the Rabbit! I look forward to getting to know you!" she said cheerfully, tilting her head.

 **Ultimate Gardener**

 **CREAM THE RABBIT**

 _"Whoa... the way she looks right now, that scent of hers too... It really does feel like a girl you'd find in a flower patch..."_ I thought to myself. _"Cream the Rabbit... This was the gardener who grew many record-breaking fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and even was beginning to run her own business with her mother selling all the things she grew. All of them are in high demand from what I read, and she was at the height of her business when she got her acceptance letter to Green Hills... Although I can't lie, looking at her now... she almost looked like a doll. A really beautiful doll..."_

Man, I sure sound like a weirdo, don't I?

"You know Charmy, I'm not a doll! And uh, yeah you are kinda sounding like a weirdo," Cream said.

"Wh-what the?! Did you hear me?" I said, flabbergasted. How in the hell did she know what I was thinking?

"I'm psychic."

"What? You are?!"

"Hee hee, just kidding! I just have a good intuition!"

What a sharp one...

"Again, just intuition!" she said.

"Okay, now you're starting to scare me..."

"Aw, don't be scared! I love to make new friends, and since you're a bee, I assume you have a favorite flower?"

"Oh uh... yeah. I rather like-"

"Uh, lovebirds?" Sonic the blue hedgehog said, tapping his foot. "This is no time for chitchat about pointless stuff like flowers!"

"O-Oh... sorry..." Cream said shyly. "We'll talk again later. I'd love to get to know you."

So much for that... If only she knew I wanted the same too...

But then again, we can talk later!

After Cream was a green hawk dressed up in some kind of racer's uniform, red and black boots, and some goggles on his forehead.

"Oh, a shrimp huh? What a shame, I need a new EX gear pal, and it seems like you aren't it. Blegh, what a shame. Well, let's just get this over with to get through my disappointment," he said in a rather... condescending tone. He pointed at himself, grinning. "The name is Jet the Hawk! Number one Extreme Gear racer in the world! Don't forget it, or I'll duct tape it to your forehead!"

 **Ultimate Extreme Gear Racer**

 **JET THE HAWK**

Oh that's right... this was another guy on the thread. Jet the Hawk... he's the leader of the Extreme Gear team known as the Babylon Rogues. He was taught racing by his father, Surge, and became the leader of his team at the age of 8 after Surge retired. Since then, he's won first place in every race he's been in, and refuses to lose. He also apparently has a MASSIVE ego, which... I guess he decided to show off to me immediately.

"So what's the lowdown? Wanting to be friends or wanting an autograph? Either way, not in the mood. Especially for being your friend. If you show me you're good on a board, you'll at least impress me, but I know you can't beat me," Jet grinned. "We Babylonians have racing in our blood, so if I did lose-"

"Sorry to cut you off," I said, not wanting to hear him ramble. "But that rumor about you and your teammates being thieves... is that true?"

This shut Jet up for a second as he looked at me. He simply frowned, turning away.

"Not like I'm gonna tell you, squirt..."

Point 1 for Charmy Bee... putting an egomaniac in his place...

Afterwards was the guy I was... kinda not really looking forward to meet. Maybe perhaps he was a lot nicer than my first impression of him?...

I walked up to the blue hedgehog as he smiled a toothy smile, putting his hands behind his head.

"Yo yo yo! The name's Sonic the Hedgehog! Oh hey! You're that bee guy, Charmy! Well, it's nice to meet you!" he said casually.

 **Ultimate Runner**

 **SONIC THE HEDGEHOG**

Sure enough, this was the guy who had the most amount of info on him in the thread. Apparently, Sonic was born with the ability of super speed, and from there, he would go on to do well... everything I read on the thread. Breaking zone records, professional sporting scouting, even Tails' account of being part-time heroes. If anything, I think he was the person so many people looked up to as a next generation hero. "Ultimate Hero" seems like a better title for him, but I guess the title of "Ultimate Runner" works too.

Although he's a lot more laid back than I thought...

"Maaaaan, this is supposed to be some giant zone assembly and they aren't even providing free food? I could sure go for a chili dog right now!" Sonic complained, crossing his arms.

"At this time of the day?" I asked. Who even eats a chili dog for breakfast?

"Yeah! A little snack does a body good!"

...okay, now that's more ridiculous.

"Is that how you prepare to run?"

"Hey, I burn off calories don't I? I might have to eat healthy and work out a lot, but Chaos forbid I ever give up chili dogs! Hey, Charmy! We should sit down and enjoy one someday! Since we'll be classmates, I think we can be good pals!" he said.

Well, the good thing is, at least he's friendlier than Jet...

"Heh, sure, as long as you don't mind a total loser," I said, trying not to make myself out to be some super cool guy because let's be honest: I really am NOT.

"Aw, don't say that! Honestly, if I wasn't a runner or a hero, I think I'd be one too. I'm not gonna take any kind of unpositivity!"

Well didn't this get from depressing to weirdly motivating. Well... I guess it's time for new people to meet besides these guys.

The next one I talked to was a pink hedgehog wearing the expensive clothes I saw earlier. Along with that, she had a heart shaped locket around her neck.

"Heya! I'm Amy Rose! Have no fear, I'm always here!" she said in a VERY perky voice.

 **Ultimate Shopper**

 **AMY ROSE**

Oh yeah, she was another girl I saw a good amount on in the thread. Amy is apparently called the "Ultimate Shopper" because this is the type of girl who has a LOT of money to spend on anything. She knows EVERY deal and sale any store has going on and how long it'll last, every trick in the book about getting any product first, and is even rumored to have 4 purses full of coupons. Even just looking at her outfit I can tell it costed her a fortune. I even saw plenty of people making guesses on where she has the money for this stuff.

Although... in spite of her being so rich, she didn't seem to be very judgmental towards other people's standards of living. Let's just hope she does donate that money from time to time, wherever she gets it...

"Um... so what was your name again? I'm sorry, I tend to forget names from time to time," she said.

"Uh, it's Charmy Bee!" I said. So far, she seems to be rather nice, if just a little TOO down to earth.

"Oh yeah! I guess that name does fit a bee! I haven't met too many myself, so I knew it was something like that!"

"Uhh, it's not really SOMETHING like that when it is actually my name."

"Okay okay! I got it! Don't worry though, I'll be sure to hammer it in my head!"

Amy immediately got out a pen and a heavily used notepad. I could see numbers and prices filled onto every page as she wrote my name on a blank sheet.

 _"Geez, it's like she could be a math major with how much she has on those..."_ I thought.

"By the way, how do you spell your first name?" she asked me.

"How it sounds."

"So with a Y right?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how many people do it with two E's. Anyway, glad to meet you!" She then put her hands together. "Ooh ooh! Did you see? Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the students here! Ahh... he's so dreamy... He's always been my crush ever since I first laid eyes on him, and I'll make sure we'll be boyfriend and girlfriend once we leave!""

Well if there's one thing I learned, she's easy going and full of energy.

...and I think she likes Sonic a little TOO much.

As she put away her notepad, I moved onto the next person, an orange echidna girl wearing very traditional clothing. I could see the crown on her head shine as I walked up to her.

"Oh, hello. It's nice to meet you. I'm Tikal the Echidna," she said in a very soothing voice.

 **Ultimate Pacifist**

 **TIKAL THE ECHIDNA**

Tikal the Echidna... Yet another one mentioned on the thread with some... surprising discontent. Supposedly, she got her pacifism from her grandmother, who died when she was six. Since then, Tikal has become a well-known activist for peace, going to thousands of peaceful protests, made multiple petitions to local governments to help the environment or to stop social injustice for example, and even once made a speech in front of all the world leaders of Mobius to bring eras of peace talks between nations that have some bad blood between one another. Lately though, she's been practicing to become a maiden, so maybe this explains her get up. Either way, she's the ideal example that many activists try to follow.

"Sorry, I get a little embarrassed introducing myself like this. Either way, I'm so happy to meet you, Mr. Charmy. I hope we do get to know one another," she smiled. I could tell this was the girl who definitely could be a pushover, but her intentions are sweet. I couldn't even help myself from smiling.

"Same here, Tikal. It's nice to meet you!" I said.

"Huh? Wait, maybe it's just my imagination, but... have we met before?"

What? Now that's a little confusing...

"Um, I don't think so. We just met for the first time, which is why we're introducing ourselves, aren't we?"

"Oh... I see... I apologize, I think I may have mistaken you for someone else," she said, clearly upset.

"Y-You don't have to apologize for that," I said, waving my hands. "It's alright, I promise!"

"Well... okay, but... you aren't upset for me making a dumb mistake like that, are you?"

"Hey, I told you I promise it's alright, didn't I?"

"I guess that's true... Sorry, I'm not the best when it comes to interacting with others that aren't like me."

"I mean, that's okay. We all don't have to be queen bees around here, y'know."

"I see what you mean," she said, putting her hand to her chest. "Still, I'm glad. I was afraid you probably thought I was some freak. Hehe... I'm glad!"

 _"...maybe how she feels is as a result of the people who called her names on the thread I saw. Stuff like 'social justice bitch' and 'virtue signaling leftie', whatever those meant. Either way, I think she'll be another good friend with her peaceful attitude towards life,"_ I thought.

After Tikal was a large green crocodile dressed up like he was Sherlock Holmes or something, in a massive beige detective coat and a black fedora.

"Hey there, kid. Or I guess shrimp with how small ya are! Heh, just kiddin', I ain't gonna be that rude this early on. The name's Vector! Vector the Crocodile!"

 **Ultimate Detective**

 **VECTOR THE CROCODILE**

I did read about this guy on the thread, but I only know about what he's doing now. Vector the Crocodile runs his own detective agency called Chaotix, which has been around since Vector established it about 6 years ago. Other than that... there wasn't much about him besides that. I wonder why?

"So uh, hey... what are you doing at this zone?" I asked.

"Huh? What kinda question is that?" He replied, seemingly... offended.

"Well, don't you have your own detective agency? Why are you in a place like this?"

Vector was silent for a few seconds before lowering his fedora down by a little bit. "Why does it matter?"

"I-I mean, you don't HAVE to-"

"Nah, I dun have an obligation, so I ain't gonna."

What was with this guy? He was seemingly cool but now he's just become cold. What a weird person...

After getting a little annoyed with Vector, I moved onto the next person, the white bat with some rather revealing clothing who told off Sonic earlier. She grinned as she gave me a peace sign.

"Hello, darling. I'm Rouge the Bat. I'm quite charmed to meet you," she said in a rather seductive tone.

 **Ultimate Jewel Thief**

 **ROUGE THE BAT**

Now this was a girl anyone could recognize. Rouge the Bat, as I saw in the thread, was the Ultimate Jewel Thief thanks to all the heists she pulls off to grab the world's rarest gems. She once even famously said, "All of the world's gems belong to me!". And she uses that motivation to steal, even in spite of working for government officials. As a result, she's famous amongst men across Mobius, for not only her charm but her looks too. In fact, in the thread they talked about her... proportions a lot.

For all the publicity shots I've seen her in however...

"She doesn't look the same as I saw online..." I said to myself, muttering.

"Huh?" I could hear her say. "Oh, are you talking my mole? Yeah, I'm not proud of that dumb thing. I always cover it up with makeup when I can, or I get people to photoshop it out from publicity shots. A lot of people confuse me with my sister, Opal because of it."

She was right. On her left cheek was a clear as day mole. It's no wonder she would want it removed for the sake of the people who obsess over her.

"Come on kid," The bat said, crossing her arms. "Don't act so surprised! You'll be shocked how many girls in professional industries are based on lies from what computers do. You'll make me all depressed. I'm rather proud of being all natural, darling."

"Oh..."

Wow, so many dreams are being crushed today...

Still, even with her flirty attitude, she seems nice enough. Thankfully I'm not rich, so she doesn't have anything to steal from me.

Although, this could also mean she's not interested in me at all...

 _"Whatever,"_ I thought, moving onto the next person. This black hedgehog stood with his arms crossed, red streaks across his quills and wearing a biker's jacket and dark pants. He opened his eyes and rolled his eyes at me.

"Name's Shadow the Hedgehog. Nice to fuckin' meet you," he said in a 'I really don't want to be here right now" tone.

 **Ultimate Lifeform**

 **SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG**

In truth, while I did see Shadow in the thread, like Vector I wasn't really told a lot.

From what I gathered, Shadow is the Ultimate Lifeform, never getting sick and always being in top physical shape. But other than that, no one was really sure how he became this way, or what exactly being an "Ultimate Lifeform" really meant besides the fact that you were always in tip top shape physically. He was yet another person shrouded in mystery, all we really know about him besides his Ultimate status is that he owns a very expensive black motorcycle, made by some top brand in Megalo Station.

Other than that? Nothing else.

"Um? Nice to meet you too, Shadow," I said, just a LITTLE on edge.

"Yeah yeah, same here kid," he said, messing with his quills.

 _"Man, I REALLY have to be careful around him. One wrong word and I think I'd just have my face punched in like some angsty teenager punching a pillow,"_ I thought to myself, feeling the sweat rise up inside.

Finally, there were six more people left. The first was a red echidna wearing nothing more than a tank top, cargo pants, and red shoes

"Greetings. I am Knuckles the Echidna," he said.

 **Ultimate Guardian**

 **KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA**

Knuckles... Once again, he was someone I didn't see too much about on the thread. What I did gather was that Knuckles, much like Tikal, are some of the last remaining echidnas on Mobius. However, unlike Tikal, who integrated into society, Knuckles kept to himself on a floating island called Angel Island, where he became the Ultimate Guardian due to his protection of a massive gem known as the Master Emerald. Supposedly, all of his ancestors have been guardians of the Master Emerald, and it only makes sense that he would be too. It also seems like he trains regularly, while not tall, his arms are rather big, and his diet is probably consisting of stuff he finds on the island.

Although, how and why did he accept coming to a place like this?

"Uh, hi? It's nice to meet you!" I said, trying to stir up a conversation. He just looked at my hand and then at me.

"Sorry," was all he said.

Oh right... there was one FINAL thing I did read about him on the thread. He apparently doesn't have very good social skills. That makes more sense.

After Knuckles, I walked up to a purple chameleon who was... rather extra with his wardrobe. He had on a full black suit, had a green scarf that went behind his back, and even a katana hanging from his hips. He closed his eyes as he spoke.

"The curtain of the night spoke, and I stared back into its eyes. It told me that we would be destined to meet, and so here we stand, the same curtain that spoke to me," he said rather poetically in a deep voice. "It is an honor to meet you. My name is Espio the Chameleon."

 **Ultimate Ninja**

 **ESPIO THE CHAMELEON**

I swear, I'm meeting a lot of people that I didn't see much about on the thread... Maybe it isn't a bad thing that I was so forgotten about...

Either way, what I did read about Espio here was that for centuries, his family was the owners of the ancient Dragon Dojo, one of the last remaining dojos in the world dedicated to the art of the ninja. It was through Espio's incredible ability as a ninja that got him the title of Ultimate Ninja naturally, and he's rumored to be the new master once his mother, the current master, dies.

People on the thread say that Espio is a force to be reckoned with, and that there's a reason he carries a katana with him. "Any incoming students, let me warn you: he can appear and disappear like that. Get on his bad side, and you might just find yourself with a shuriken in your head," I read them say.

But still... as I look in front of me, he doesn't SEEM all that bad.

"Hey, you," he said, closing his eyes.

"H-huh?! Yes?!" I said.

Suddenly, he began to poke and prod around my body. I REALLY didn't know how to feel about this...

"What are you?..." I began before he interrupted me.

"It seems your quality and quantity of muscle on your body is rather ordinary for someone your age. What a shame. I wish to acquire a new partner for practicing my abilities, and it doesn't seem like you're it. My apologies," he said, bowing.

I don't think that's a shame for me... Still, why would he just touch me like that? Can you say personal space?

After moving from one purple mobian, I moved onto another one. In front of me was a purple swallow girl with a white bandana tied around her head and a large pair of glasses on top of it, a pure white mechanics outfit (with a purple flame pattern at the base of the sleeves and legs), and a necklace with a large red stone in the middle. She didn't seem very pleased to see me however.

"Uh hi!" I said, hoping that she wasn't another rude bird.

She was silent for a second before looking at me.

"Name's Wave the Swallow," she said, a discontent in her voice.

 **Ultimate Mechanic**

 **WAVE THE SWALLOW**

Oh yeah, I remember now...

Wave is member of Jet's Babylon Rogues team. She's the team's mechanic, able to fix up anything she can get her hands on. She's even known in the Extreme Gear world as the best modifier in the scene, being able to create boards that are beyond anything normal EX gear mechanics can do while still having it be tournament legal. It's that, and apparently, her fixing up a faulty plane in 30 minutes while her and her teammates were about to fly to a tournament when it would have normally taken a day or two for mechanics to fix that granted her the title of Ultimate Mechanic.

"Hey shorty, we're done with introductions, right? How much longer are you going to stand there?" she asked.

"Oh, I just thought-"

"Well I'm not in the mood. Get lost."

Jeez, does EVERYONE in the Babylon Rogues look down upon anyone who isn't themselves?

Whatever, I blew her off and moved onto the next person: the first kid to say anything to me here. The silver hedgehog wearing the cyan hoodie nodded when he saw me.

"I'm Silver the Hedgehog! I'm someone who takes things easy, so I hope you can too!" he said, uncaring of his situation.

 **Ultimate Telekinetic**

 **SILVER THE HEDGEHOG**

Oh yeah, this was that really weird guy I read about. Silver the Hedgehog... born with the power of telekinesis...

I didn't believe in that stuff, but was it really true?

"Ahh... okay, I give up," he said.

"Huh? Give up what?"

"Well, I can tell from the way you're looking at me that you don't believe I'm the Ultimate Telekinetic, right?"

"U-uh..."

"Hah, no need to feel embarrassed! Here, what if I proved it to you like this?"

Silver motioned his hand to the security camera and began to move it on its own. I was blown away. I thought this stuff was in movies but this... this was real!

"Now do you believe me?" he asked. I simply nodded. "Hey, maybe we can get to know one another! I got more tricks than moving cameras!"

Shocked at what I had seen, I simply moved onto the next person. The lavender cat I had seen earlier straightened her hair as her lemon eyes stared right into mine.

"I don't think we've been introduced yet. My name is Blaze the Cat," she said in a rather normal tone.

 **Ultimate Pyrokinetic**

 **BLAZE THE CAT**

Yet another person who can use kinetic power... However, unlike Silver who can move things with his mind, Blaze was born with the power of being able to control and create fire. The rumors in the thread say that she's actually from a different kingdom, explaining the gem on her forehead.

Although...

"If you don't mind me asking, are you from this part of Mobius?" I asked.

"Of course, why?" she replied, seemingly surprised.

"Well I guess... Blaze? I mean, pyrokinesis is your power. Is that actually your name?"

She giggled. "Of course it's my name. Why else wouldn't it be?"

It seems like she wasn't going to let me pry about that.

"Either way, I do look forward to getting to know you better, Mr. Charmy. Don't worry about me, I won't set you on fire. I know how you insects are when it comes to it. Heh-heh-heh..."

Something about her aura gave me a vibe, but I couldn't explain what...

With Blaze done, there was one last person I had to introduce myself to. Walking up to him, I was overwhelmed by the large grey albatross I had seen talk earlier.

"So you're that bee guy, Charmy! Heh, not impressed, but I'm sure you're a nice guy at the end of the day," the albatross said. I could tell from the flame patterns on his arms that he was yet another Babylon Rogue member. "Name's Storm the Albatross. Forget it and uh... I dunno what the boss told me to say after I said that..."

 **Ultimate Bodyguard**

 **STORM THE ALBATROSS**

Storm the Albatross...

As the final member of the Babylon Rogues, Storm was born into a circus family, where he was touted for his size and super strength. He once famously performed had a show where he once pushed a two-ton slab of concrete, then a zone bus with his bare hands at 7 years old. This would have gotten him named the "Ultimate Strongman" if he didn't hit his growth spurt by age 11, where he became tall and muscular to the point that places like bars, official sporting events, and celebrity outings began to hire him as a bodyguard. He even once was the bodyguard of the president of Central City for a brief while. It was this that gave him the title of "Ultimate Bodyguard".

Since his days of bodyguarding, he has since taken up a role as the strength of the Babylon Rogues. He's simple minded and not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but if you have his respect, he is VERY loyal.

"Hey kid, you just gonna keep standing there?" he said, cracking his knuckles. "I think you've already introduced yourself to everyone!"

"Y-yeah, I guess that's true," I said, still intimidated.

"Just listen, don't try any funny business with my friends, and we're fair game. You got it?"

"I-I got it... still, can't you guys work on being a little nicer?"

Storm was quiet for a couple of seconds before whispering.

"It's okay. I'm probably the nicest one of us three Rogues. But don't try to take advantage of me, kid! I know when you are, and I won't be afraid to get these hands dirty!"

I gulped. "Duly noted."

Well, at least he was... TOLERABLE...

But with that...

 _"All the introductions are done,"_ I thought to myself. _"Even though they're ultimates, they're more than just what they're perfect at. They have their own lives, their own past, families, etc."_

Just then, Wave cleared her throat as Jet and Storm were already by her side. "Okay, time to get down to business," she began. "We introduced ourselves to each other and that's all fine and dandy, but are we really going to stand around doing this?"

"Wave is right, I still don't know why we're here..." Tikal said, worried.

"Oh right, that's true," I replied. "I think someone said something about a bigger problem or something? What was all that about?"

"Um, well you see..." Cream began. "Charmy, you said a bunch of stuff happened and then you were just 'asleep', right? That's because the same is true for all of us."

"What?! Seriously?!"

Tails rubbed his head. "We attempted to travel through the warp ring, found that the scenery turned red, and we all fainted before arrival. When we came to, we were somewhere in the zone. Sonic told me he was in some laundry room for example, and you were?"

"In a classroom."

"In a classroom, right. Now, isn't it odd that we all end up in different positions and locations?"

"But that's just... weird! All 17 of us were somehow knocked out as we came here through the warp ring. I mean, how is that possible?"

"Exactly!" Shadow said, nodding his head. "That's why we're all in a state of confusion."

"And that's not the only thing too. You saw how all the windows in the classes and hallways were, right?" Sonic said, finger on the tip of his mouth. "Instead of normal class windows, they were big metal plates! What's that about?"

"Oh yeah, I noticed that," Wave added. "Just to be clear, the screws used for those plates are far too big for any wrench I have on me, and I did see if any of my big ones worked. How odd... could this be the first thing I can't fix?"

"You still have your wrenches? That's not fair... all of my stuff is missing, even my cell phone..." Rouge bemoaned.

"Neither do I! And I paid top quality for mine..." said Amy, frowning.

"Nor did I find my PDA, either..." added Tikal. Now I was taken aback by what she said.

 _"People still use PDAs?"_ I thought.

"And then there's the main hall here," Sonic said, breaking me from my thoughts. "The front exit is blocked by this giant metal hatch. Is this REALLY the entrance? For Gaia's sake, what the hell is this and what is it doing here?!"

"Maybe we got caught up in some kind of, you know, crime or something?" Rouge said.

"Aren't you someone who commits crimes?" Storm asked. The bat was silent.

"Yeah well, at least I don't do something like this..." she said, arms crossed as she turned her head away.

"Anyway... it seems this metal door is too powerful to break down," Knuckles said, finally speaking up for the first time.

"Yeah... Do you think this whole thing is a kidnapping? Like, someone grabbed us and hauled us somewhere and we're not ACTUALLY at Green Hills?" asked Tails, scared. Silver shook his head.

"Hey, c'mon! Don't think like that! Cheer up!" He said. "I bet this is all part of the orientation procedure. Yep! I'm sure that's it, so I am taking it easy!"

Silver would go on to lay on the floor as he used his telekinetic ability to raise himself up, allowing himself to relax. Tikal breathed a sigh of relief as she smiled.

"Oh... so you think this a surprise... Thank goodness, I really was scared out of my mind," She said. Jet yawned loudly.

"Man, is that it? Well, if that's the case then I'm taking Silver's example. It's nap time for me," He began to stretch. "I stayed up WAYYY late, so I could use a little shut eye."

"It's not good to stay up so late, you know," Espio said, Jet sucking his teeth in response.

I sensed everyone's tension going away... Even mine too for a little bit. I mean, if this was a way to scare us, then damn they got us good. I shook my head as I even began to laugh at myself for being scared. How stupid was I to fall for something this dumb?

But then...

 **IT** began.

 **Ding dong, bing bong***

It was the sound of a zone bell. And suddenly, the TV by the corner of the room turned on. Static was displayed on the TV as the silhouette of someone, or... something appeared. All I could tell about the shape was that it was... oval shaped, and had something sticking out from its sides. Was it a moustache or something? I couldn't tell, because before I could think about anything, a voice suddenly spoke through the TV speakers.

"Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two!" The voice said in a type of accent I've never heard of before. "This is a test of the zone broadcast system! The broadcasters in this zone, in voluntary cooperation with the people who developed our wonderful system have created it to keep you informed of any zonewide message! If this had been an actual important message, you would have been instructed pay attention to the closest TV next to you, which I hope you're doing right now because this IS an actual important message!"

 _"Oh boy..."_ I thought. I shuddered as I listened to him. Not only was he referencing those scary weekly tests that interrupt whatever show I had on, but the way he sounded happy saying that... it gave me a vibe I couldn't explain. It seemed so out of place, so playful...

So unconcerned...

I felt a deep, unnerving dread listening to it. It was like hearing someone laugh at the scene of an accident.

"Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then, let us begin! To all incoming students, I would like to begin the official Green Hills ceremony at... right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience. Anyway, that's all! I'll be waiting..."

The TV turned off, and I noticed everyone's reactions. The joking mood between everyone was gone now. Rouge I had seen bite her lip.

"What. The. Hell... was that just now?" I heard her say with fear in her voice.

"I don't know how to describe it..." Storm replied. "But it sounds bad."

"Yeah... really bad..." Big also said.

"Jet, Storm, you heard what that thing said. Let's go," Wave said, taking off.

"Wave, wait!" Jet said, running after her. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"You heard what it said."

"I... yeah, I guess you're right. Hey, Storm! We're going now!"

"U-uh, right this way, Boss!" the bumbling albatross said, pushing Tikal and Tails aside as he ran towards his friends, almost bumping into me in the process.

"W-what?! Are you lot just going to take off like that?!" Rouge yelled at the three birds.

"Oh yeah!" Silver said, snapping his finger. "Now I get it! This whole thing was just to get us all pumped up for the entrance ceremony! Ha ha! Man, thank Gaia it was just a joke! I'd be freaked if this was real! Well, I guess I'll head out too. I wonder what they have planned for us?"

He began to walk away as Tails looked concerned.

"You guys? I don't think I like where this is going..." He said.

"Hey buddy, if you're scared, I don't mind going with you," Sonic replied, offering his hand to Tails. "Come on, I'm sure nothing will be out there."

The fox smiled. "Thanks Sonic... alright, we'll be going too. Let's meet up there."

Then the hedgehog and fox soon left. Tikal suddenly perked up.

"Oh, please wait for me! I wish to accompany you!" she said, running after the two hedgehogs. Before she could leave, Amy immediately stood by the entrance of the main hall.

"That girl! If she even tries to take my Darling Sonic away! Hold on, Sonic! I'm coming!" she said, running after the blue hedgehog too. Blaze rubbed her arm and smiled.

"Well, how unusual love is... I guess that is that. I'll see you all there," the lavender cat said before taking off.

As some of the others left, I stood there, frozen. That uneasy feeling I'd had before, I couldn't get it out of my head.

That thing on the TV... what was that?

And most of all: what was waiting for us at the gym?

Although as I turned around, I noticed I wasn't the only one. Cream had her hand to her mouth, clearly scared, as Vector and Rouge stood by.

"This... this doesn't seem right," she said.

"Yeah... that announcement was totally weird... I mean, what's going on? Why the strange manner of orientation?" Rouge asked.

"Maybe..." Vector said, adjusting his fedora. "But just stayin' here ain't guaranteein' our safety. Besides, aren't yeh guys just a lil' curious to figure out what's goin' on?"

Espio nodded. "I agree with you, Vector. If we do not move forward, we learn nothing. The only thing we can do is push ahead."

I guess he has a point... But still, I'm kind of- no, I'm REALLY nervous. We don't have a choice, we HAVE to go!

"They said to go to the gym, right?" I asked. "Then let's head there."

 _"But first, I want to know how everyone's holding up..."_ I thought to myself.

"Uh, guys? You're all okay, right?"

I could tell that wasn't the case. Cream was still in her nervous state. "Something weird _IS_ going on here, right? It's not just me?" she asked. Knuckles was silent, only saying:

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Shadow was enraged. "Shit... what the hell kind of game is going on here?" he cursed to himself.

Rouge still looked shocked. "That announcement was creepy..." she said.

"Listen," Vector said, stepping in front of the circle of people. "I know how yeh feel, but... all we can do now is check the gym out and see what's there."

"But... what if something scary happens?" Big asked.

"No need to fear. I doubt that a simple talk in the gym could be anything dangerous," Espio said. "So therefore, I shall take my leave."

Everyone else nodded as they made their way out. I followed behind the group, looking around the multicolored halls. The only noise I heard alongside footsteps were the sounds of my wings as I finally reached the door to the gym. There, Vector, Espio, Rouge, and Shadow were in the lobby.

Shadow already began rubbing his quills behind his head. "Jeez, for Gaia's sake, I had no idea this Green Hills would be such a pain in my balls."

"I'll say, and I don't even have any," Rouge said, admiring a ring on her finger. "It really isn't different then the time I was sent to solitary confinement. Hell, I'd say it's worse."

"And why isn't there anyone here?" Cream asked. "Walking through these halls, I didn't see anyone but ourselves."

"Isn't that a bad sign?" I asked. "I mean, I GUESS they're trying to spook us with those metal plates and maybe they'll be taken down?"

At least, this is what I wanted to tell myself...

"All we can do now is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. My training has taught me that in times of despair, the only thing one can do is stride forward and to make your best effort," Espio said. The more he talked, the more it really felt like he could be some kind of poet. Shadow scoffed and nodded.

"Well hell, it's not like I'm scared or anything. Alright then, let's just get this over with," he said. I watched as Shadow opened the doors, yelling; "ALRIGHT, WHO'S THE ONE WHO CALLED US?"

Everyone else made their way to the gym sans Vector, Cream, and Rouge. Before I did, I looked around the room. I noticed a lot of trophies in glass cases, flags of the zone's crest, etc. With that done, I decided that with Rouge and Cream still freaking out, and Vector... calm, silent Vector, standing by the door, the only thing I can do was open the same doors everyone had gone through.

* * *

As I entered the gym, I noticed the stage at the farthest corner of the gym, complete with a podium and a red banner of the zone's emblem. All of the other students stood in front of the stage, waiting for some kind of announcement. Although, what I can say is...

"This looks like a normal entrance ceremony," I said.

"See?" Silver said. "Told you! It's a totally normal, totally basic entrance ceremony!"

I guess Silver was RIGHT... but in a way, that only emphasized how completely _not_ normal all of us were.

Then, before anyone could talk, a voice rang out through the gym. I froze, it was the same voice from the TV announcement.

"Greetings, fools! Is everyone here? I see 17 students, so that's good! Okay, enough time has been wasted, let's get on with the show!"

I still continued to stay frozen, all of us staring at the stage, wondering what was going to happen. It felt like days passed as we suddenly heard something from the podium.

And that's when, for the first time, **HE** appeared.

I was completely taken aback at the person-no, the THING that just bounced onto the podium. I... I didn't know how to describe it.

His shape was that of an... egg. It's like, imagine Humpty Dumpty, except instead of overalls, he wore a lab coat which was red on one side, and pitch black on the other. In fact, his entire right-side sans his face was entirely black. The only noticeable was his face. He was wearing some kind of goggle over his left eye, but on his right eye, the goggle was blood red and shining. The last and noticeable thing about him was his moustache. It was one that I never saw before. It was very spiky on both ends, and looked like it had been growing for years.

"Huh?" Tikal asked. "What... what is that? Is that an egg?"

"I'm not an egg per say!" the... egg said. "I go by many names like Robotnik, Eggman, and Baldy McNosehair, but this time, I guess you could call me... Egg Robo! And, I am this Zone's headmaster!"

I... I couldn't even describe what was going on anymore. This was the strangest thing I've seen. Right before my eyes, it was... no, I couldn't even describe it. Nor did I even know where to BEGIN. I mean, this thing is our...?!

He suddenly jumped up and leapt through to the middle of all of us. I could see Jet, Wave, and Shadow take steps back.

"Nice to meet you all!" He said, arms out as if he were some old friend.

 _"Such a bright voice and a carefree attitude was so out of place..."_ I thought. And... and all of that anxiety carrying with me suddenly transformed into outright fear.

"Oh, oh no! The egg toy can talk!" Big said, freaking out.

Sonic shook his head, getting in front of the robot. "H-hey! Calm down! I'm sure there's just a speaker inside of it!" He said, laughing nervously.

"Hey! Come on now! I told you already, I'm not JUST an egg!" the thing that called itself Egg Robo said as he pushed Sonic out of the way, his red eye only glowing brighter. He began to yell. "I'm Egg Robo! And I'm your headmaster!"

"AUGH! IT MOVED!" Big cried, hiding behind Knuckles and shaking. The echidna looked like as if he was caught off guard by being a sudden human shield.

"Seriously, calm down you!" Shadow scolded. "It's probably some remote-control toy!"

Egg Robo looked down, seemingly depressed as his moustache fell down. "How dare you compare me to some child's plaything! You've cut me deeper than the depths of Chemical Plant Zone..." He said. "In fact, my remote-control system is so complex, not even the greatest scientist in the world could comprehend it! That greatest scientist being me of course!"

Suddenly, he became angry. "Ah, but don't make me stuff that'll destroy my own dreams! You would just make me look like an EGG-head!"

Everyone was silent for a couple of seconds at quite possibly the worst pun we've ever heard. I just felt my own brain crack into two hearing that.

It was Blaze that broke the silence.

"Egg-head? Really? You are... unfortunate," she said.

"Now then, moving on!" Egg Robo said. "We really must hurry and get started!"

"What, are you giving up already?" Rouge asked. "No other stupid egg puns to go around? Maybe like, 'time to crack open a-"

"Don't finish that," Espio said sternly.

"Quite down students! Or else I'll put you in time out! Ah, okay, so...! Everyone, stand attention and say, 'Good morning!'" Egg Robo said, spreading his arms out.

"Good morning!" Sonic and Tails said together. I guess they really were the model heroes they said they were...

"You don't have to say it back," Wave said.

"Good morning! See! I said it because my Darling Sonic said so too!" Amy exclaimed.

"Oh, you are pathetic..."

"Now then, let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your zone life here will be like!" Egg Robo began. "Now, make no mistake, you have all come here to learn and leave here becoming the future Heroes of Mobius, representing the hope of the future and this world. And, to protect such splendid hope... you will all live a communal life solely within this zone, isolated from the rest of Mobius! Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and regulations of the zone!"

 _"...huh?"_ I thought. What he was talking about, surely he wasn't implying?..

He continued, "Ah, now then... regarding the end date of this communal life... There isn't one! In other words, you'll all be here until the day you die! Such is the way of being a hero!"

"W-what did he just say? U-Until the day we die...?" Amy asked, scared.

She was right to be scared. What this thing was talking about, it... it can't be real!

Egg Robo didn't care for the reaction, as he suddenly looked happy and flowers sprouted from an aura around him. "Oh, but fear not! We have quite an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences!"

"Hold on a second!" Cream said. "That's the least of our worries right now! I mean, explain yourself please!"

"Yeah, what the hell is this?!" Rouge exclaimed. "You're saying I have to live here forever? You're screwing with us, right?"

An angry Egg Robo replied, "I'm not screwing with you! I'm not lying, you can be 100% certain of that! Ah, and just for your information, you're completely cut off from the outside world! So, you don't have to worry about that dirty dirty Mobius beyond this zone ever again!"

"Cut off? You're making less and less sense by the second!" I yelled. "I mean, all these metal plates over this zone? You're saying they're kept to keep us trapped in here?"

"That's exactly what they're for!" Egg Robo replied without thinking about it twice. "No matter how much you try to yell and scream, help will never come! So, with all of that in mind, feel free to live out the rest of your life here in this ring dimension with reckless abandon!"

...I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I thought this was some kind of joke, but the more Egg Robo talks... the more I realize just how serious he means business.

"Come on! What is this?!" Tails said, scared. "I don't care if the zone is behind this or whatever, it's not a funny joke and I don't like it!"

"Yeah! Whoever's responsible, the act can end now!" Sonic said, pointing at the robot.

"It's not funny, that's for damn sure," Shadow added.

"Unbelievable!" Egg Robo complained. "You all keep saying this is a lie, or a joke, or a whatever! Skeptics! All of you! Eh, but I guess you can't help it. You kids today have grown up in an era where you can't trust anyone otherwise they'll either abduct you or give you razors in your chocolate... Well, you'll have plenty of time to find out whether or not what I say is true. And, when that time comes, you'll see with your own eyeballs that I speak the truth!"

"How unfortunate..." Blaze bemoaned. "Having to live here forever is quite... problematic."

"Come on, what's wrong with you all? You decided on your own free wills to come to Green Hills, didn't you? And now, before the entrance ceremony is finished, you want to leave? What a shame!"

He suddenly began to hide his mouth in his hands. "Although... I guess I did forget to mention one thing. There is ONE way for you to leave..."

"Huh, and what's that you dumb egg salad?" Storm said.

"It's Egg Robo! And just so you know, as headmaster, I've crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave! I call it... the Graduation Clause! Now, let me tell you about this fun little rule! As I mentioned, Green Hills is designed to shape you into the next generation of heroes! As such, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And, if someone were to disrupt that lifestyle by doing UNhero-y things, they, and they alone, would be allowed to leave the zone. That, in an eggshell, is the Graduation Clause!"

"And what do you mean by, "UNhero-y things" as you so put it?" Wave questioned.

"Ho ho ho... Well, let's say..."

And then, he said something that made my heart sink into my stomach.

"If one person were to murder another."

"M-Murder?!" was the only word to come from my mouth. I felt faint, almost as if I could stop buzzing at any second.

"Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, whatever! You must kill someone if you want to leave. Simple as that! The rest is up to you! Give it your all to achieve that hero status in the worst way possible!"

Chills went through me, and it was clear I wasn't the only one. I looked around, seeing some like Tikal, Tails, Big, and Cream look white in the face, while more stoic ones like Shadow, Storm, Espio, Knuckles, Vector, and Wave even looked a little unhinged.

 _"You must kill someone if you want to leave."_

This sentence drowned my head. These words made my blood grow cold...

"Ho ho ho! I bet THAT got your brains flowing! Beats the heck out of training Chao for racing, huh? Egg Robo chuckled. "You all are the future heroes! But you know... taking the hope of being a hero, and seeing it get murdered creates the dark shadow of despair. And it's... so EXTREME! I FIND IT SO... DARN... EXCITING!"

"S-Stop it!" Tails yelled. "To commit murder is..."

"It's the ultimate sin of mankind!" Tikal added.

"Ultimate Sin? Killing each other is just killing each other! I'm sure there's a dictionary for all of you somewhere if you want to find the definition of murder."

"We know what it means! That's not the problem! Why do we have to kill each other?!" Amy yelled.

"Yeah! What Ms. Amy Rose said! Stop with all this blabbering and let us go home! I wanna see my Froggy!" Big said.

Egg Robo was silent.

"...Blabbering?" he said calmly.

Suddenly, his face got dark, and his glowing red eye shined even brighter.

"Blabbering, blabbering, BLABBERING?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BLABBERING?!" he screamed. "Stop blabbering on about blabbering on! You guys just don't get it, do you? 'Let us go! I wanna go home! I wanna see my pets! My Chao! My Parents! My Chaos Emerald mockup I made in 3rd grade!' That's what you keep telling me over and over again. Listen to me, and listen to me GOOD. From this moment on, this zone, THIS RING DIMENSION, is your home, your life, your world. No pets, no Chao, no parents, no police, no Chaos Emerald mockup. Got it?! And, and and and! You can kill as much as you want! So go ahead, go on a kill-kill-killing spree!"

Silver sighed. "Alright dude, come on. How long are you REALLY going to keep this up?"

"Eh?"

"You got me! You got me good! You scared us straight into behaving like good little girls and boys, so go ahead and reveal the trick now."

"Reveal the trick?"

"Yeah, 'cuz I mean... This is all some kinda trick and all, right? So uh, like..."

"Dude, shut up!" Shadow yelled. "Do you think this is some kinda game? That we can't escape? I'm gonna prove it to you!"

Shadow ran over to the metal plates covering the gym, trying to kick it down with his feet. No matter how hard he kicked it, it wouldn't budge.

"Ho ho ho... Try as hard as you want, you won't get any far doing that..." Egg Robo said.

"Argh! Storm, Knuckles, whichever one of you is the strongest! Get over here and help me!"

"Don't listen to him Storm, he's just being an idiot as usual," Jet said. However, the albatross wasn't listening, and he joined Shadow in trying to beat down the plates.

"You can try try try till the Cucky's come home, and even with all the strongest people here, none of you can't make a dent," Egg Robo continued to taunt. Shadow growled as he walked over to us, pushing me out of the way. He placed himself in front of Egg Robo, his voice rumbling like thunder.

"Listen up, you asshole! This shit has gone WAY too far! To even tell us to murder, what kind of sick fucking joke is this?!" he yelled.

"Joke? You mean like how you're pretty much an emo version of Mr. Sonic over there?" Egg Robo taunted. Shadow roared as he suddenly grabbed Egg Robo by the collar, spitting in his face. Egg Robo began to flail his arms.

"I have you now! I don't care whether you're a real egg a robot or whatever! Either way, I'll send you straight to hell where you belong!" Shadow yelled.

"Wagh! Violence against the headmaster is in violation of Green Hills' regulations!" Egg Robo yelled out.

"Oh shut the fuck up about all of this! Let me, and I guess everyone else out! But mostly me! I'm through with this shit, and I swear I'll-"

Egg Robo suddenly... began to beep.

"What's this? Are you done with your comebacks?" Shadow asked.

He began to beep a little faster.

"Hey! Stop with the beeping and SAY SOMETHING!"

"You! Watch out! Get rid of it!" Vector yelled.

"Huh?"

He began to beep even faster as suddenly, his head opened up, and a missile was aimed straight at Shadow. I held onto my helmet tight.

"Don't stand there! Hurry up and THROW IT!"

The ferocity in Vector's voice seemed to stun Shadow to a point where, without word, he did what he was told. Shadow took Egg Robo and threw him into the air, and...

 **BOOM!**

I felt a bit of debris hit my helmet as everyone, including Shadow, looked rattled.

"What the hell?!" he said, stumbling back. "Th-that wasn't some joke, that was real! It really DID blow up!"

As more debris hit my helmet, there was a painful ringing in my ears, and the smell of gunpowder in the air. Explosions might happen all the time in movies or tv shows, but when it's in real life...

"I'd never seen anything like it..." I told myself.

"W-well... you know, this means the egg toy has been destroyed, right?" Tikal said, still looking scared at what happened.

"I told you! I'm not JUST an egg! I'm Egg Robo!"

Another Egg Robo popped into existence. Tails yelped.

"Ahh! ANOTHER ONE!"

"Oh, you son of a bitch! You ACTUALLY tried to fucking kill me!" Shadow yelled.

Egg Robo pointed his hand at Shadow, revealing some kind of laser gun for his hand now. "Well yes! I WAS serious about trying to kill you. You DID just violate one of the zone's regulations after all. I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on! Any naughty boy or girl who violates my rules won't be let off with a name on the chalkboard and a note for your parents."

"W-Wait! That's beside the point! The way you came back, does that mean there's a bunch more of you around somewhere?" Rouge questioned.

"Egg Robos have been placed all throughout the zone, yes. Plus, don't forget the surveillance cameras installed everywhere. And, if you're caught breaking any rules, well... you saw what happened, right? Ho ho ho...And I won't be so forgiving with my punishment next time. So, don't let it happen again!"

"T-That's not even a punishment, that's just... wrong..." Amy said.

"Yeah! Trying to blow me up, tch, I've had plenty of people try to do that and I get out of it fine every time," Jet tutted.

"Now then, lastly..." Egg Robo added, ignoring Amy and Jet. "To commemorate your joyous entry into this zone, I have a little something for you... This!"

Egg Robo held out rectangular yellow device. "This is our official student handbook, called the PAD! Standing for Personal Academic Directory, this is your key to everything around here! Pretty cool, huh It's fully digital too, no need for any special accessories for it!"

He coughed, which I didn't think a robot had to do. "Ahem, yes, well, moving on... The PAD is absolutely vital to a healthy life within the zone, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it will display your name. Always make sure you have the right one! Now, this is not your everyday handbook. It has so many more uses than that! Also, it's completely waterproof, so you can use it while you're in the tub too! And! Thanks to its space-age design, it can withstand an impact force of up to ten tons. Very resistant! It contains all of our zone regulations, so make sure you review them thoroughly!"

Egg Robo once again had his shining red eye. "You guys... you'll hear me say this a lot, but let me remind you that any violation of zone regulations will NOT be tolerated. Rules restrict, yes, but they also protect. Society, for example, would be utter chaos without laws. So, the same thing applies here! Which is why it's crucial we have strict punishments in place for violators. Well, that brings out entrance ceremony to a close. Do we have any questions?"

We all were silent, not wanting to say a word.

"Well, I'm glad you guys understood so quickly. So, please enjoy your depressing and dreary zone existence for the rest of your life, unless you decide to kill! And see ya later!"

Egg Robo disappeared, and with that...

He left us all in a state of shock.

"S-so guys?" Sonic said, speaking up. "How would you define what we just experienced?"

"A circus show of nightmares?" Tails replied.

"Something that fucking blows," Jet added.

"My worst fears..." Tikal also added.

Espio closed his eyes. "I just don't understand any of this. How is this even possible?" he said.

"So it is true?... We have to live here forever, or kill?" Amy asked. She began to cry. "I can't even process this!"

"Everyone, we need to just calm down," Vector said, stepping up to the middle of the crowd of people. "First, let's just take a second to summarize everything we just heard. Based on what Egg Robo said, we essentially have two choices: The first, we stay here at Green Hills until the day we die. And the other choice is..."

"Indeed," Blaze said. "If we want to get out of here alive, we have to kill someone, right?"

"But... killing someone... That's!" Tikal said, crying just like Amy. Knowing that she was the Ultimate Pacifist, this clearly went against her.

"It's inhumane," Knuckles added.

"We were abducted, and placed in this prison that looks like a zone ..." Big added sadly. "And now... we have to kill each other? This is my first time I've been in a zone, and this is... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He began to cry loudly too.

"No no, this is a lie! Yeah, all of it has to be! It's pure ridiculousness... aha... yeah!... yeah..." Tails said, nervously grabbing one of his tails.

"Right now, it really doesn't matter what's real or fake. What matters is... Is there someone seriously considering this?" Wave asked. Nobody had a response. I could even see her only friends, Jet and Storm, being silent too. I kept quiet, looking around at all the faces in the room.

Everyone stared at one another. Some of the people who were friends like Sonic and Tails, and the Babylon Rogues, looked at each other knowing they'd protect the ones they loved, but with everyone else... it was a veil of uncertainty. I could almost taste the hostility in the room. As I looked around, I swear I saw a couple of people staring at me... Rouge, Cream, Knuckles, everyone just staring at someone then at someone else.

And that's when it hit me... I realized the true terror hidden within the rules Egg Robo had laid out.

 _"You must kill someone if you want to leave."_

Those words had planted vicious thoughts deep within each of us. We all became suspicious of everyone else. We all wondered the same thing:

 _"Is someone going to betray us?"_

And that was how my new life at my new zone began. This zone, which had come out of nowhere, to raise my spirits so high...

It wasn't a zone of hope, a zone that taught me to become a hero.

It was...

...a zone of despair.

* * *

 **PROLOGUE**

Despair Hill Zone Act 1

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Sonic the Hedgehog

Tails the Fox

Knuckles the Echidna

Amy Rose

Cream the Rabbit

Shadow the Hedgehog

Rouge the Bat

Vector the Crocodile

Espio the Chameleon

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Blaze the Cat

Jet the Hawk

Wave the Swallow

Storm the Albatross

Tikal the Echidna

Big the Cat

 **Deceased**

None

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. Chapter 1 (Daily Life 1)

**(AN: Welcome to a late night edition of Despair HIll Zone! We've just taken care of the prologue, and are ready to tackle the main chapters of this story. The flow of the fic from here on out, unless specified, will be a bit weird, so do bear with me. When we first start off and end off, we'll have a monologue from Egg Robo and his own little show, the Egg Robo Playhouse, respectively, and then afterwards, go on with the main fic. Since this is just setting up more time, this is the "Daily Life" portion of Chapter 1, where things are normal (so far). We'll go more into detail about Daily Life, but for now, let's begin!)**

* * *

 _A light shined onto Egg Robo, sitting comfy in his red chair and sipping some wine. He poured himself another glass and began to speak._

 _"Well, hello there dear reader!" he said. "This is Headmaster Egg Robo from Green Hills Zone. How are you? Are you filled with despair yet? Have you already gone into the reviews begging me not to kill off your favorite character? Well I'll get on that in just a minute, but let's just say you will be filled with it soon! Now to recap the prologue, I've imprisoned 17 little boys and girls, the future heroes of Mobius, into my humble little zone, and told them that if they want to leave, then they have to kill! And if you think I'm joking... then hear this! In this chapter, a student... DIES! Now you might be asking, 'Who is it Egg Robo?'"_

 _He then got angry and bounced in his chair. "I'm not telling you! Not only would that spoil the surprise, I also want to see your despair when you realize that in this story, no one is safe... anyone can die, and there's not a thing you can do about it! Ho ho ho! I sure hope you can enjoy the heights of ultimate despair, dear reader!~"_

* * *

 _"You must kill someone if you want to leave."_

My mind froze and my breath caught in my throat as I thought about that. I could feel a paralyzing fear slowly making its way through my body, dominating every last nerve. The air hung heavy on me, pressing down like a weight around my neck. I could see around me others felt the same too. It took everything I had just to endure that weight...

What I was wondering now was... What happens next?...

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Surviving the Game of Death**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE**

But for as heavy as the air felt... all it took to pierce it were his sharp words.

"So? What are you goin' to do now?"

Vector once again stood around all of us, arms crossed as he addressed everyone. "Just standin' around, glarin' at each other?"

"Y-Yeah, you're right, Vector..." Sonic said. "Sometimes, even the biggest heroes get afraid or nervous. And... and that's why we have to step forward!"

"I can't believe I forgot something that fast..." Tails said, his face falling. "I was so scared of what I was told that I didn't think at all to clear my mind."

"For Gaia's sake..." Shadow mused. "If you have time to be upset about it, then I think you have time to DO something about it."

"You're right... but... what do we do?" Big asked, head tilting.

"Idiot! To look for a way out! Duh!" Jet replied, mocking him as he stuck his tongue out. I swear, the more I hung around him, the more bad vibes I got...

"And, we need to find whoever's controlling that stupid egg and beat the hell out of 'em!" Rouge said, stomping her foot down. "He pisses me off!"

"I think that speaks for everyone in this room," Storm added.

"B-But before we do all of that, maybe we should take a look at that PAD we were provided..." Tikal piped up, already getting out hers. "It's probably best to check out the zone regulations Egg Robo mentioned before doing anything else."

"True," Blaze replied. "If we stumble around with no clue what the rules are, something like what almost happened to Shadow might happen again."

"Tch, just have to bring it up don't you," Shadow scowled.

Everyone else soon followed, and I had mine in my hands in no time flat.

"Come on, let's hurry up and check out the stupid rules already," Rouge complained.

I turned mine on and the screen came to life. The zone's crest lit up on the screen as my name was displayed in a big white font. Just like Egg Robo said, the owner's name showed up front and center. From the main menu, I selected "Zone Regulations". Afterwards, a list appeared on the left side of the screen, and I was allowed to select which rule I wanted to check first.

 _"Of course I'll start from the top,"_ I thought, and began to read.

 **RULE 1: Students may reside only within the zone. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.**

 **RULE 2: "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.**

 **RULE 3: Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.**

 **RULE 4: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Green Hills Zone at your discretion.**

 **RULE 5: Violence against Headmaster Egg Robo is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.**

 **RULE 6: Anyone who kills a fellow student becomes "blackened", and they will get to graduate, provided they aren't discovered.**

 **RULE 7: Additional zone regulations may be added if necessary.**

I felt dizzy the more I looked at this screen, so I raised my face up from the screen. When I did, I could see that others were done reading the same rules, and all of them had the same stormy expression.

"This is bullshit. What the hell kind of rules are these?" Shadow complained. "Leaving campus? We can't even do that at all! Tch, not like I'm going to let them control me. I'm me, not some puppet controlled by a puppet master."

Blaze giggled. "Well then, why don't you wander around the zone without a care in the world, and let's see how far you go with that. I'd love to see you not get killed at all, I really would. Personally, seeing the result of someone breaking the rules... it sounds oddly exciting."

...what's your definition of exciting?

"But what if he gets all blown up?" Big asked. Shadow was silent, looking away.

"Shit... didn't think too much about that," he said. "You're right. There's a lot in life I have to fulfill, a lot that I have to make amends for. Biggest of all... I have to learn what it means to live."

"So what?" Rouge asked. "Not like that means anything here."

"So what, in that there's much I have yet to do, and promises to fulfill. That's why I can't die here!"

"None of that made much sense to me, but I guess you're saying that you'll follow the rules, right?" Blaze asked. Shadow nodded.

Well, even as extreme as he seems to be, I'm glad to see he's agreeing along...

Cream then piped up. "Hey um... I have a question. For rule six... what do you think it means? Anyone who kills a fellow student becomes "blackened", and they will get to graduate, provided they aren't discovered?"

"You're talking about the second half, right?" I said. "Where it says 'provided they aren't discovered'? I was wondering about that myself. The way Egg Robo made it out to be, I thought he meant 'kill and you get a free pass out'."

"No, you dolt," Wave said. "It's saying that if you want to graduate, you have to kill someone without anyone finding out it's you."

"B-But why? Why do we have to do that?"

"Tch, I don't see any reason to worry about it. Just follow the rules, and I'm sure you'll be okay. But frankly, you need to make your own decision. Killing is your own choice, and not killing is your own choice too. Which do you want?"

"Yeah girly!" Jet mocked. "Stay in your place!"

"That comment was also an unnecessary choice to make."

Storm laughed as Jet fumed. I smiled, knowing that he finally got a taste of his own medicine.

"Well..." Amy shook her head. "For now, let's just forget all that silly junk about murders. I bet even I'm looking too far into it and being too worried about it... I mean, now that we know the rules, shouldn't we explore this place?"

"Yeah, we need to find out where we are. Is there any way out, and what should we do about food or other things?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, my Darling Sonic! Asking the important questions like always! That's what I love about you." Amy put her hands together.

"Oh, give me a break. I think I'm going to be sick," Jet muttered.

"We should all start looking around!" Tails said.

"Well then, Jet, Storm, shall we get going?" Wave said.

"What, why? That's a dumb idea, isn't it?" Rouge asked. "I know they're your friends, but what happens if-"

"I trust in Jet and Storm. As for the rest of you, who's to say someone here hasn't already thought about murdering one of us? Are you saying we should just stand around with them and dance around in the roses to make it that much easier for them? I think not."

Cream ran up to Wave. "W-Wait, hold on a second! That would never-"

"Don't bother, girly. You can't deny it won't happen!" Jet said.

"You said it boss! No one told me to kill, and I ain't gonna!" Storm added.

"In fact, that's why you all seized up with fear when that graduation rule was made clear to you," Wave also added. "Am I wrong?"

We looked at the Babylon Rogues. Sure, they were smug about it but... they DID have a point...

Now I was only getting more nervous. Was someone right here making up a murder plot, even as we were talking? I felt sick just even thinking about it. I could see Cream did too, as she seemed to back away from the three.

"Therefore, we'll be acting in accordance with what we think is best for us. And that's sticking together as a team, and not trusting anyone else."

"Hold on a minute, swallow! I'm not gonna let people die and do whatever the hell we want! You wanna get out of here as much as us, don't you? You're going about it the wrong way!" Shadow growled.

"Oh, out of the way, EDGEhog," Jet sniggered as the three began to walk away.

"Wh-what the fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you're as edgy as edgy can be you idiot! What, do you need a dictionary to look up what the word idiot means too?"

"Oh, you're fucking dead!"

Before Shadow could even crack his knuckles, Storm walked up in front of his two partners.

"I'm not even gonna let you touch the boss and Wave if it means gettin' past me!" he said. "They don't call me a bodyguard for nuffin!"

"What, do you think I'm afraid you oaf? You have a lot of balls to imply that!"

"Hey hey hey!" I said, not wanting SOMEONE to die already. "We shouldn't fight at all!"

I looked at everyone, their faces confused. Here I was, some tiny bee in between a hulking albatross and an angry hedgehog. I couldn't help but feel like I was going to get shoved into a locker and flinged around for my lunch money at this point...

"Oh, now here comes that little bitch known as Mr. Goody Two-Bees!" Shadow bemoaned. I was confused by that. I mean, Mr. Goody Two-Bees?...

He kept going on. "Who do you think you are, talking to me like you're supposed to be some authority figure?!"

"N-No, I wasn't!"

"Oh, 'no I wasn't'," he mocked. "As if! FUCK YOU!"

And within a moment, I heard a few gasps as I felt Shadow punch me straight in the face. If this was a comic book, I should have expected a "WHAM!" or a "POW!" as he punched me, or even some cartoon sound effect like the sound of a rubber ducky or some cartoon punch sound effect. But nothing like that happened. Just a fading consciousness, and something rolling from my nose... Was it blood? Snot? Whatever it was, it wasn't comfortable at all.

All I knew was that I was now a bee on the ground, and that my helmet saved me from the fall. And with that... I felt myself lose consciousness more and more as I realized that I forgotten the type of people I was trapped with. My common sense had just... stopped functioning. Being around all these "Ultimates" had just blown my fuses. So... I guess I shouldn't be surprised if it led to something as absurd as this.

I guess I just... lost track of reality.

* * *

 **LATER**

I don't know what time it was, but when I finally opened my eyes again, what I saw was...

A room.

The walls were red, in front of me was a bed, two pairs of boarded up windows, a surveillance camera above the bed, a nightstand, a door to another room, and... the way out?

"Where am I?" I told myself, feeling the pain in my nose sharpen. It's as if it had become part of my daily routine, I found myself in another room I'd never seen before.

"Okay so, where am I now?"

I buzzed over to the bed and sat on it, feeling the dry blood above my mouth. Did Shadow strike me that hard?

I looked around, a feeling of uncertainty washed up on me. I felt around in my pockets and noticed I still had my PAD with me. I turned it in, and sure enough, it was working as it did. Since I didn't know what time it was, I figured that wasting it away checking everything wasn't a bad idea. I noticed I had a map of the entire zone, a report card, and... presents?

"Whatever that meant."

I checked the report card and found that everyone was listed here. It told of our names, our height and weight, Ultimate ability, and... chest size?

To say I didn't know how to feel about that was the understatement of the CENTURY. Disturbed, I put down the PAD as I began to look at the room. The first thing I noticed was the nightstand. Opening the drawer, I found that there was an unopened toolkit. I didn't know what it was for, so I left it alone. There was also a notepad, as well as a lint roller. Once again, the metal plates sure didn't budge and the camera... well, I didn't want to touch that period.

On the table away from the bed, I found a key with a keychain, with my name on it. I took it, realizing that this must have been my key to this room. Afterwards, I noticed another one of those Egg Robo monitors on the wall, as well as a piece of paper. I got up close to read it.

 **"Announcement from Headmaster Egg Robo:**

 **Each room's lock has been designed to completely protect against tampering or lock-picking. Remaking an individual room key is quite troublesome, so please make sure not to lose yours. Your room comes furnished with a shower, but please note that the water is turned off at nighttime. Also, the bathrooms in the girls' rooms include a lock of their own.**

 **Finally, we've prepared a small gift for each of you. For the girls: a sewing kit. And for the boys: a toolkit. The sewing kit includes a map of the body's vital organs. One stab will do the job, girls! And for the boys, we believe a strong blow to the head with any of the tools should be ample. Don't think! Just feel! And let's all enjoy ourselves!"**

…

I couldn't explain in words how this paper made me feel. All I know is that I crumpled up the sheet of paper and threw it in the trash. I felt sick, disgusted. The toolkit... and the sewing kit... He's just giving us the means to hurt people? That's ridiculously fucked up!

I buzzed my way to the final place I haven't checked: the door by the top left corner of the room. I realized this must have been the bathroom. But, when I tried to open it, it didn't want to.

"Huh? It's not opening. Is it locked or something?" I asked myself. "Jeez, and what if I have to use the bathroom?"

With that out of the way, the last thing I saw was the door that lead outside. Like the bathroom... it was locked too.

"So some rooms have locks, huh?" I mused, buzzing back to the middle of my room. I think I'm starting to understand... this room has to be mine. After what happened, someone must have carried me here. So I guess that answers that question. My next one now is...

"What's everyone else up to right now?"

There's only one way to find out, and that's to get out of here.

I buzzed to the exit, and turned the doorknob, worried about what was going to happen next. I pushed the door open, looked around, and was ready to buzz to meet up with everyone when... Someone was waiting for me there.

I hit whoever that was hard as I fell to the ground, feeling like I was in some kind of old timey sitcom.

"Ahh!" yelped out a very timid voice from a girl. As I looked up, I saw Cream on the ground, her hand on her head as her straw hat lay on the ground.

"Oh-! Cream?" I said, buzzing up to her. I got her up, worried for her safety. "S-Sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I hope you're okay too..." She replied, picking up her straw hat from the floor and dusting it off. She put it on her head. "Sorry about that..."

I could see the embarrassed smile on Cream's face, and I won't lie... I kinda melted seeing it.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" I asked, still worried about what I did.

Cream smiled. "Hee hee, you make it sound worse than it is. Don't worry about it! I'm completely fine! I know how I look, but working in my garden all the time has made me a very active person!"

"Well... that's good. I'm glad I know you'll be okay."

"But... are **YOU** okay? You know, when Shadow hit you?..."

I forgot about the fact that I just got the wind taken right out of me in front of everyone. It's no wonder why Cream was worried about me. Guess I already revealed my lack of cool right in front of her...

"Charmy?" she said.

"O-Oh! Uh, I'm fine! Nothing wrong here!" I blurted out, hoping she wouldn't notice my bluff.

"Oh, that's good. I was kinda worried," she said, back to smiling. Good, so she didn't notice it then...

However, something occurred to me just then. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Actually... I came to get you."

"You came... for me?"

"Well, if you really are feeling better, I was hoping you could come to the dining hall."

"The dining hall?"

"After you got knocked out, everyone decided to go and do their own thing. We decided it would be more effective if we split up to investigate. So, we agreed to get together later on and talk about what we'd each found."

"So, does that mean it's almost time to get back together? If that's what's going on, then of course I'll go with you!"

"That's good! I'll go on ahead and meet you at the dining hall then!"

Cream skipped ahead as I was left in the dark red hallway. I looked around, noticing multiple doors around me, each with an 8-bit sprite and a name of everyone on a door. In front of my room was Shadow's...

"Lucky me..." I muttered. I exited the hallway and entered a... startlingly white main hall. With so many doors and a hallway to my sides, I didn't know where to even begin.

But what I did know was that everyone was waiting for me at the dining hall. I buzzed forwards and made my way to the door with a sign above it that had a picture of a knife and fork. Entering through the doors, I could see Cream standing by the table.

"Ah, glad to see you could make it! Isn't this place so clean and wonderful!" She beamed, before letting her face fall. "Although... I guess that's not too important with us being prisoners here and all."

"I mean, cleanliness is important... but I guess that's true," I replied. I looked around, wondering where everyone was. It seems like the most we could do was to sit here and wait for everyone else.

"Okay, let's do just that!" Cream giggled.

"Huh? You heard that?"

"Didn't I say I was psychic? Hee hee, come on! I'm just kidding! I swear it's amazing intuition!"

But is it REALLY just intuition?...

"So, tell me, Charmy... what kind of a person are you?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, we're here passing the time, right? I want to know more about you. Mainly, who is Charmy Bee? What does he do? I mean, I'm the Ultimate Gardener, so people naturally assume I just garden. But you're the Ultimate Average Student. What does someone with a title like that do?"

"I mean, I'm not really the type of person to stand out. I'm average at everything, and all of my hobbies are normal. Even 'normal' would call me boring."

"Aw, what are you talking about? I think even if they are boring, you at least have a variety of different tastes and interests, don't you? I mean, you're strange! Uh, in a good way of course!"

She started giggling louder. That smile of hers made my heart grow calmer. Her smile was the nicest smile I'd ever seen...

"I think It's good that I got to meet and chat with someone like you. Everyone else has their own special ability, and that's all they focus on. I doubt anyone here cares for gardening, but with you here, it's like I can talk to you about anything because you aren't tied down to just one thing. Talking to you has made me feel a lot better about all of this... You're amazing, Charmy!"

And she praised me...

To say that my heartbeat didn't increase was the biggest lie I'd ever told since the time I broke the neighbors window by throwing my baseball bat at it when I was 8.

"N-No... I'm really not, I swear. I'm nothing at all compared to you 'ultimates'. Sure, I might have variety, but you at least have a lot of people who recognize you for your talent. Not me!"

"But, you're the one who helped me find courage here because of your uniqueness! Not any other ultimate I know about!"

She did have a point... Maybe she did feel pity for me, or was trying to suck up to me. Or better yet, actually feels this way... either way...

"Thank you for saying that," I told her, smiling.

"And to thank you for helping me out, I decided that to this day, Cream the Rabbit will be a new ultimate! I shall be the Ultimate Assistant!" she said, trying to sound like some movie announcer.

"Isn't that Tails' ultimate title?"

"It's sidekick, isn't it? And... oh yeah... Well, this can be the girl version of that!"

 _"You can be a girl and still be a sidekick..."_ I wondered, confused.

"Either way, I'm going to help you out as much as I can so we can both get out of here together!" she said, smiling.

Although... when she says things like that, it gets me pumped up! It's nice, but still... Everyone else is still late. Besides that, I don't even know what time it is right now.

 _"There has to be a clock around here somewhere,"_ I thought. I looked around and sure enough, there was a clock right by the entrance of the kitchen. It read 7 P.M.

"Wait, seven at NIGHT?!" I bellowed. "Was I out for THAT long?!"

"Uhh... yeah! You were!" Cream replied in that same happy tone.

Well, that sucks. Without being able to look out a window, I've lost all sense of time. If I have to stay in this place for too long, well... Gaia forbid.

"Hey, um... I can't believe no one's here yet. But I'm sure this'll start showing up soon..."

And just as Cream said that, right on cue, the door to the dining hall opened.

"Oh hey! It's Cream! And Charmy too! So, you guys got here first huh? Nice job, nice job! Glad to see you're getting the upper hand in outrunning me!" Sonic said casually.

"That's a bit much, Mr. Sonic. I just came to wake up Charmy from his trance. Honest!" Cream said shyly.

And soon after that, everyone else came strolling in one after another. Everyone sat around at the large dining table, of course, sans the Babylon Rogues, who sat at a nearby table away from us all. Sonic put his hands on the table and got up from his chair.

"Okay!" he began. "It looks like everyone's here. Time to start the meeting!"

"Uh, I don't think we specifically SAID anything about a meeting," Rouge replied, confused.

"Neither did we. I don't wanna be bored with this crap," Jet yawned, putting his feet on the table.

"Never mind! We need to all go around and share what we found during our retrospective investigations!" Sonic said. "Then, I think we gotta plan stuff out! With how this place is, there's no way to escape. Man, if only I could juice and jam outta here, I would! Which is why we have to find out what's going on as soon as possible so we can get out and split!"

"Hold on now!" Rouge said.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"Where's what's his name? That green crocodile dude? Oh yeah, Vector!"

"And what about him?

"He's not here."

Sonic looked a little on edge. "What? What do you mean he's NOT here?!"

I took another look around the dining hall. Sure enough, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Um... I wonder where he went. Has anyone seen him?" asked Amy. Everyone shook their heads in response.

"Wait, so if nobody's seen him..." Tikal said. "What does that mean?"

Now I was only getting more nervous. Why hasn't Vector shown up yet? Could it be that maybe...?

I thought back to what Egg Robo said about all the methods of killing. Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting... Did one of those happen to him?

No, no! I'm just overthinking things! I mean, surely someone wouldn't have already killed by now! And besides, he's a detective!

...the kind of person who would die first considering that we're trying to solve a mystery...

"Maaaaan! Is Vector really gonna be that late? I know he's huge, but I don't like waiting!" Sonic complained.

"I'm sure Vector will be here. He doesn't seem like the type of person to just vanish mysteriously," Espio replied, sipping a cup of tea he got earlier.

"Still, he hasn't told us where he's going to be," Tails added.

"You guys are being total jackasses right now," Rouge said. "You heard Espio. I'm sure he's okay."

"Well, what do you want me to do then?" Sonic replied, glaring at the bat.

"Calm yourself down. Run a few laps if your patience is that small."

"I would, but I think that we need to start our first briefing meeting!"

"Uh, where did THAT come from?!"

"Yeah, we never really AGREED to any kind of meeting," I said, confused.

"Charmy, maybe we do need to listen to what everyone else has to say," Cream said, holding onto my arm.

"I..." I sighed. "Alright, you're right."

"Okay! You know... I feel like I really have become your personal assistant, don't you agree? I may not be the best in the world, but I'll give everything I've got."

No... you've done so much as my assistant already, Cream. We both got up as Cream dusted off her sundress.

"Okay, so since you're in the dark about all this, let me lay out what's been going on," she began. "Everyone split up to investigate different parts of the building. From what I heard... Jet, Wave, and Storm went off together, as did Tails and Sonic. Vector went off on his own, while Silver, Rouge, and Tikal grouped together, as did Amy, Espio and Shadow, and finally, Blaze, Big, and Knuckles."

"Well, let's start off with the Babylon Rogues," I said. "Hey, Jet? What did you guys find?"

The hawk looked at me and got up. "Well fine, I guess I'll tell you. We went off looking for clues as to who's responsible for imprisoning us," he said. "I didn't find anything though. Tch, guess they're more hidden than I thought."

"I also tried anyway I could to get those screws unbolted, but just like the last time I saw them, they're not easy to open up. None of the toolkits Jet and Storm were provided works on those screws. I think this might be the first time anything like this has ever stumped me," Wave said.

"And I can't open those dumb metal sheets! They're like... uh, diamonds!" Storm said. "Guess that Egg Robo really was right..."

"That's all we have," Wave said.

"And Sonic and Tails? What about you?" I asked. Sonic got up and stretched. "Well, I spent some time looking around in the dormitory. It looks like we all have our own rooms!" he said.

"Well... yeah I figured that out before anything else..." Shadow growled.

"Yeah, each door already has a nameplate on it, so I guess all the rooms have been assigned. I noticed that they even left me decorations that I brought here," Rouge said. "Which is good, my room looks empty and depressing."

"And each room key was attached to a keychain with the owner's name precision-etched onto it," Tails said. So, I guess from what he said, that confirms the room I woke up in was mine. "Each room also has a camera in it, and all of the same basic supplies."

"And plus, Tikal and I found out that all the rooms are totally soundproof."

"Your next-door neighbor could scream their lungs out, and you wouldn't hear a thing..." Tikal said. I felt a sense of dread hearing that. Someone could be murdered in a room, and we couldn't hear a thing...

Honestly? I dunno how this place keeps getting worse, but it does.

Blaze once again was her calm self. "Well, each room also had a private bathroom, which could also lock."

"But it looks like there's only locks in the girls' dorms," Rouge added. Now that was odd... when I checked my bathroom earlier, it definitely was locked. Did they give me one of the girl dorms on accident? It was weird, so I made sure to tell myself over and over again;

 _"Check the lock, check the lock."_

"Okay, so they got a bunch of rooms ready for us. They're assuming we're gonna be here a while..." Shadow said, arms crossed and legs on the table. "Tch, it's almost like we're supposed to kiss the floor next."

"Okay okay, quiet down and listen!" Sonic scolded. "It's better we have them than not. If we're going to get out of here, we're gonna need good rest, not sleep on the floor like woodland creatures."

"What, is that all you have to report Mr. I'm-the-fastest-thing-alive?" Jet mocked.

"Actually, yeah..."

"You doofus! I didn't expect you to actually buy what I said!"

As Sonic and Jet continued, I moved on to ask Rouge, Tikal, and Silver what they found.

"We went all up and down the zone, double checking the windows and all the hallways and classrooms," Rouge began. "We wanted to see if we could try to get any of those metal plates off. But well, just like with what Storm tried to do, and what happened earlier in the gym? Nothing. Not a damn thing."

"There wasn't any hope of escape anywhere," Tikal said, already beginning to shed tears. "The zone really has been totally cut off."

"This sucks... It REALLY sucks! It sucks sucks sucks sucks sucks SUCKS! What in the hell are we gonna do?!"

Seeing Rouge like this... normally, she seemed so calm and collected, and she's a thief too... This must be hard for her.

In fact...

"Actually, Rouge? You're a thief right? Was there any sort of special exit you could find?" I asked. She shook her head.

"There was no sign of anything. Not in the ceiling, the floors, the walls, nothing," she replied, already sounding panicked.

"Hey, calm down! You're starting to make me nervous!" Silver said. "Yeah, I tried finding something too but uh... yeah, nothing. I tried opening the doors with my psychic powers, but nothing worked. It's so odd though... what could they be made out of?"

With their investigation, there were only two left. Next up was Amy, Espio, and Shadow's investigation. Amy put her arms together and huffed.

"We thought maybe we could find some way to communicate with the outside, so we went looking all over!" She said. "But we didn't find a thing. Sorry..."

"I went back to the main hall, seeing if there was something I could do about that huge metal hatch. But I think that thing is even stronger than the metal sheets. There's no way it can be opened any normal way," Shadow said. "Me and Espio hit it with desks, chairs, even with a piece of brick from a wall. Either way, if we're gonna get outta here, it's not gonna be through there. Unless we had like, dynamite or something."

"I feel like I could cry... but no. I have to hold it in! I have to manage my hydration!" Amy said, hanging her head down.

"If you must, there's no shame. So then, I shall tell you what happened next," Espio began. "It has nothing to do with communicating with the outside world, but it's still worth worrying about. In both the zone and dorm areas, there was a set of stairs leading up to another floor."

"Oh yeah," Amy piped up. "But there were gates there, and we couldn't find any way to open them, so we couldn't check it out."

"In other words, at this point we are only able to search the first floor. I don't think the gates are wide enough to even let you two pass, considering that you two seem to be the smallest ones here. At this current time, we can assume there is potentially something above the second floor as well. If that's the case? That might be our way out."

That was really good information, and it got me closer and closer to learning what kind of twisted zone we're in. At least, I was done to learning what the last group was up to.

"Well, I'll be honest: we didn't do much investigating," Blaze began. "Knuckles kept trying to punch the metal sheets, to no avail. And he really wouldn't say much. Big on the other hand, said he didn't know where to start."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rouge scolded. "Just sitting around at the gym at a time like this?! Our lives are on the line!"

"...my apologies," Knuckles said, turning his head away. I felt weirdly bad for him. It was almost like he was shy, not because of bullying, but because he's just someone who doesn't know how to communicate well.

"Yeah... I'm sorry... I didn't know where to begin... I just wanna go home..." Big said.

"Ugh, whatever!" Rouge scoffed. "We already got enough done as is."

"Well, I think that's it, Charmy," Cream said. "I guess I'm the only one left?"

"Yeah? What did you find?" I asked.

"I went and had a look around the dining hall. I found a fridge in the back of the kitchen, and it was overflowing with all kinds of stuff. I guess we don't have to worry about food, at least."

"For now... But there's seventeen of us... How are we gonna all eat?" Big asked.

"Eat sesame seeds or sunflower seeds or something!" Jet said. "They're good for you and tasty!"

"I'm not a bird like you..."

"Actually, good question, Mr. Big!" Cream perked up. "All the food gets stocked automatically each day. At least, that's what Egg Robo said to me when I examined the kitchen."

'You saw him?!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Yeah, he came out of nowhere, said that, then left. He was so fast, I don't think someone could be moving him around without a remote control."

"A weaponized toy that can just appear from nowhere... I can't tell if we're supposed to be afraid or not," Tikal said.

"Everything was okay, right? He didn't try to like, eat you or blow you up, or even turn you into rabbit stew for dinner tonight?" Amy asked.

"Nope, nope, and nope!"

"Hey now! Let's not get too off course!" Rouge scolded.

"She's right. We can't be makin' stupid jokes right now. We gotta do something, or-" Shadow began, before getting interrupted.

"Yeh know? Yer all spendin' an awful lot of time yellin' and carryin' on," said a familiar, slang-using crocodile. "Do yeh really think yeh can afford to do so? Have none of yeh accepted the reality of the situation?"

"Vector! Where the in the hey have you been? We already started our meeting without you! In the words of myself, you're too slow!" Sonic said, pointing at Vector. He didn't say a word, but instead, dropped a piece of paper on the table. We all got up to look at it.

"Huh? What's this?" I asked.

"It's a map of Green Hills."

"A map?

"Yes, a map. I assume yeh know what one is, right?"

I didn't really get mad, just kind of... nodded.

"What the? Where did you find this anyway?" Sonic asked.

"It doesn't matter where I found it," Vector said.

"What are you saying? Only saying that only freaks us out more!"

"More importantly, what does it mean?" Rouge asked, ignoring the hedgehog.

"Just look at it. The buildin' we're in right now is laid out exactly the same way as Green Hills," Vector said, pointing at the floor plans. Sure enough, he was pointing right at the dining hall.

"So what you're saying is... this really IS Green Hills?"

"In terms of construction, yes. But it looks like it's had a number of strange... renovations done to it."

"What do you mean?"

"I dunno all the details yet. All I've been able to get was involvin' the first floor."

"But then... this only confirms that this is Green Hills. We didn't get abducted or anything, and taken to some place that tries to pass itself off as the zone we're supposed to be in," Tikal noted. Shadow scoffed.

"This is so stupid it's not even possible. THIS place is where Mobius' future heroes come from? Did everyone who said they came here really participate in some dumb thing where they had to kill each other? You don't walk away from killing like nothing happened, you walk away with severe mental health problems!" Shadow complained.

"But it's weird... if this really IS Green Hills, where's the other students? Surely we can't be the only ones here," Amy added.

Silver groaned. "Hey, come on guys! Let's just stop talking about all this, you know, negative stuff..."

"I mean, aren't you worried? Things aren't looking too good," I said, head tilting as I wondered, 'How in the name of Gaia was this guy okay?'

"Worried? What's there to be worried about? I mean, this was all planned out, right? The people in charge of Green Hills put this all together, right? Ha ha, man if I got stressed every time something like this happened, I think I'd have used my telekinesis to pull out my quills one by one! Good things come to those who wait, right? So, we just gotta chill and everything'll work itself out! In fact, watch how chill I am right now!"

Silver pointed his hand towards the kitchen as a couple of seconds later, a cola flew out from the kitchen and into his hand. Just as he began to open up the can of soda, Blaze began to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Jet asked. "It's just a can of soda. What, is that what you laugh at?"

"I'm just happy, that's all. I think splitting up was a good idea."

"Weren't you the one who did nothing? I mean, sure we did all this, but we dunno what's going on, or who's running this-"

"Hold on, did you say you don't know what's going on?"

"Eh?"

"It's perfectly obvious that we have been imprisoned in some secret location, with no way out."

None of us had any response to that. She was right... whether this place called itself Green Hills or not, this place was in a ring dimension different from Mobius'. And there really was no way out... We didn't want to accept that reality, but it was staring us right in the face. Much like in the same way that Blaze's gold eyes narrowed as she looked at all of us.

"Hey, come on you dumb broad! You didn't have to go and say that! I was trying not to think about!" Jet complained.

"Boss! Don't get worked up about it!" Storm said.

"He's right. Unless you're on death row, imprisoned people find a way out," Wave said. "We don't have to listen to that Egg Robo fool. We'll find out own way out."

"Are you sure?" Jet got up and began to walk around the room. "There's no way out, we're trapped here, what are we supposed to do? Die of boredom? I don't even think I was given my board!"

"Well, if we want to get on our boards, I guess the only thing we could do is kill-"

Just as Jet squawked, Rouge got angry. "Don't even joke about that!" she exclaimed.

"Everyone! Please calm down!" Cream said, trying to bring order back to the room. "We need to stop and think about what to do from here."

"There has to be something we could do..." Tails said, scratching his chin. Perhaps trying to break down the gates to the stairs could help us?"

"What will that accomplish?" Blaze asked. "All we can do is adapt. Adapt to living our lives here from here on out."

"Live here?... Are you saying we should just accept it?" Tikal cried out. She had a point, I didn't want to be here anymore. Why would she be so glad about adapting here?

"Let me tell you, Tikal. A lack of adaptability... is a lack of survivability. In this zone, there is no such thing as survival of the fittest, from either brute strength or intelligence. It stems from who can adapt the best. Now, I've come out on top before in the past in certain events, so I am quite confident in myself. The question begs: are the rest of you the same? That's why I have a suggestion."

"Really? Better not be a crap one," Shadow muttered.

"Oh, not to worry. We all understand that we're trapped here. Which means we'll be spending out nights here. However... Do you remember the rule regarding nighttime, right? What was it? Hmm... maybe I could have a volunteer tell me. Knuckles?"

He looked off guard when she said that. I'd imagine he wasn't used to people just expecting him to say something. Sure enough, Knuckles fumbled around for his PAD and read the rule in a quiet and stuttering tone.

"R-Rule two... "Nighttime" is from 10 p.m. t-to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits a-at night, so please exercise c-caution. A-And rule three... Sleeping anywhere other than the d-dormitory will be seen as sleeping I-in class and punished accordingly."

Poor guy... you can tell he really wasn't used to interaction like this. He even mispronounced some of the words too. If I was Knuckles... I think I'd just drop dead right then and there.

"Thank you, Knuckles," Blaze said. "So, in regards to the zone's own nighttime rule, I propose that we need to have one of our own."

"Such as?" I asked.

"Well, how about going out at nighttime is strictly prohibited? The zone doesn't say so, but I feel like it should be made official."

"Okay? But when the hell did you call the shots?" Jet asked.

"I'm 'calling the shots' because with the way things are now, every time night comes, we're going to all start getting worried and anxious. We'll all be afraid someone might try and come kill us."

"What?" Cream yelped.

"...oh, well... ugh, fine! Fair point!" Jet said, giving up.

"If we have to worry about that night after night for who knows how long, it'll wear us down in no time flat," Blaze continued.

"So that's why you're suggesting we limit our activity at night as a kind of preventative measure?" Espio asked.

"You catch on quickly Espio. However, unlike the other rules, nobody can be forced to comply. We just all have to agree to follow it."

"I see what you mean. But... I think I can agree to that," Rouge said. "It's like with the flame girl said. Without something like that, we're just gonna self-destruct.

"Well in that case, on the behalf of every guy in the room, I comply!" Sonic said.

"Hey, you can't just decide to speak for us!" Jet replied.

"So, is everyone in agreement? Good," Blaze said, smiling again. "Then, if you'll excuse me...

"Uh... not to be a bother but... where are you going?" Tikal asked.

"It's almost nighttime isn't it? I want to take a shower before it arrives. So, goodbye."

With her heels clacking against the floor, Blaze left the dining hall. Her behavior seemed so natural, I couldn't imagine anyone even trying to stop her.

"So... is it true? We're spending the night here?" Big asked.

"Adaptability..." Espio muttered to himself. "I think we can all soon learn it once we come up with further plans to leave."

"So, Mr. Hedgehog... what next? One person already left," Rouge said. Sonic looked shocked, as if he didn't really know how to respond.

"Uh... Well, how about we just end today's meeting? It's almost nighttime, so we probably should head to bed and rest up for tomorrow."

Tikal continued to look as conflicted as she did. "Do we really have to stay the night here?...

"Unfortunately, we don't have a choice. We can't go for long without sleep."

Shadow sighed. "So, we just have to give up... this sucks."

"And yeah, that's fine for today, but what about tomorrow?" Jet asked.

"Our only option is to split up and look around again, and then let everyone know if we find anything," Espio replied.

"Yeah, okay. Let's do that!" Amy added.

"So, we're done for the day?" Rouge asked, getting up. "Thank Gaia. I'm exhausted."

With heavy movements, everyone got up to head back to their rooms. Everyone, sans one person.

"Charmy, are you ready to call it a day?" Cream asked.

"Yeah, let's go," I replied, both of us walking together back to our rooms. Before we headed in, we said good night, and headed inside.

However, just when I entered, I already got conflicting feelings.

"Is this really where I'll be staying for the foreseeable future?" I asked myself. But just then I remembered...

"Oh yeah, I gotta check the bathroom before bed!"

I buzzed over to the door, looking at it. Only the girls' bathrooms should have locks on them, right? Then was I really given a girl's room on accident? I tried to open it up, but sure enough, still locked.

Suddenly, I was taken aback when I heard a noise and a familiar, grating voice speak. "Bzzt! Wrong! Not locked!"

"Holy crap!" I yelped, wondering what in the name of Gaia was Egg Robo doing here, as I turned around to see him.

"Jeez, talk about an overaction. All I did was read your inner first-person thoughts about the door being locked. It's not like you saw a ghost or something! Like... you didn't see some kind of robot egg ghost..."

"That's beside the point! Wh-What are you doing here?!"

"Charmy Bee, this is super-duper, majorly and extremely bad! It's so bad that it's almost magical! Like an ultra-magical terrible horrible no good very bad attack!" he said, doing his angry pose. He went back to being normal however as he pointed at the door. "In point of fact, I acknowledge that the bathroom in your room has a problem with the doorframe! No accidental mistake of giving you a girl's room here!"

"Wait... so it's... it's just that the door doesn't fit?"

"Didn't you notice? Can you not only read what I'm saying, but also LISTEN to what I'm saying?! The bathrooms in the boys' rooms don't have locks! I mean, a lock on a boy's bathroom? How ridiculous! I'm sure if you go to a private zone, they'll have you showering with everyone! It'll be a rain of buttocks and genitals everywhere! Well, it's not that it's pointless, I guess. As a great scientist, I know everything about the birds and the bees! I don't need you procreating here! That's why there's boys here too!"

At this point, I had no idea what he was saying anymore. Did Egg Robo go senile or something?

"Anyway, there's a little trick to opening this particular ill-fitting door. And that's what I'm here to teach you! Okay, ready? I'm only going to teach you once, so don't expect me to be an Omochao! You just have to turn the doorknob, then LIFT up while you pull! Go ahead, give it a try!"

"Okay... turn the knob, and lift the door up while I pull..." I said to myself. When I did that, the door opened without a problem.

"Ho ho ho... see? It opened right up! But isn't it crazy though? Your door was the only one that doesn't fit quite right! You're the Ultimate Average Student and WOWZA! You're already the shining example of it! Ho ho ho! Anyway, I suddenly don't feel like being here anymore... soo... BYE!"

As Egg Robo vanished, I tried to run up to him. "Hey! Wait!"

…

Damn, lost him.

Just then, a bell began to ring. And suddenly, the monitor in my room started up. The screen displayed the zone crest against a wall of static, and then Egg Robo was shown in a room full of monitors, sitting on a chair while sipping what appeared to be a martini.

"Mm, ahem," He began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

When the monitor turned off, I just simply buzzed over to my bed. Now that it was nighttime, it looked like I couldn't leave my room. Lying on my bed, I simply put my hand on my pillow, staring at the wall.

 _"All I can do now is try and get some sleep..."_ I thought. The more I stared at the wall... the more my eyes closed. It's not that I was ready for bed, I was just exhausted. It made sense, I mean, with everything that happened? I think I would be feeling terrible. It was almost like I spent the entire day watching movies on TV, or one of those illusions I'd see online.

"That feels about right... There's no easy way to just accept the situation we've been suddenly dropped in," I said, my final words to myself. So, this is how the curtain closed on my first day at Green HIlls. Would it be too much to hope that when I woke up, I'd realize this was all a dream? It's lame as far as endings go but... I'd be fine with that. In fact, that was the best-case scenario.

And with that, I fell asleep.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"In any normal world, I'd be a normal kind of villain. I'd be riding along in my flying machine, yelling 'You're going to pay for this!' at heroes while I try to take over the world. But when I think about what's coming up... I'm just so full of pride and joy! Our ceremony earlier in the prologue was absolutely splendid. No no, no need to thank me! I know I did a splendid job with it! Remember that you're all students of Green Hills, and the future heroes of Mobius, so make sure to strive to refine your ideals! And you too, dear reader! I hope you'll be so happy for what you'll be reading! I hope you're ready for all the lovely despair wrapped in neat little cellophane, just for you! And if you don't like it... well, I'm hoping to change your thoughts! And that's it for today!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Chapter 1 (Daily Life 2)

**(AN: Welcome to this after-Christmas special of Despair Hill Zone! Apologizes for the silence, this chapter was done for a while, but me and my proofreader decided to take a break for the holidays. After today, I'll continue with my regular writing schedule!**

 **Now, I will mention, right now we are in the middle of the "Free Time" sections of the Daily Life parts. These parts are mainly filler to help us get to know the characters more. I have a list of what characters should have what Free Time, but I think your feedback can also help me come up with anyone you'd love to see a Free Time event for! So feel free to come up with suggestions! Things are going to be calm and okay for now, but oh... give it time.**

 **Either way, welcome back to your nightly despair, and please enjoy!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo stood in front of a stove, cracking an egg and putting the contents into a pan. The eggs began to sizzle up as he sighed._

 _"Whew, I'm beat! After yesterday's first day of despair, all of it is making me hungry!" he said, wiping his forehead. "I mean, they can search all they want, but they won't be able to find an exit anywhere! ...that reminds me, reader. What do you think of Charmy and Cream's relationship? Maybe I oughta pay them a visit before they start doing naughty teenager things! I mean, no one's died yet, so it's not like I have anything to do!"_

 _Egg Robo turned back to his eggs, which finally cooked completely. The yolk on the left cracked as it deflated._

 _"Ah, eggs. The most important meal of any day! You know, don't they remind you of hope? The egg is the start of life, the start of hope. But crack an egg and you have no life, and you have despair. Oh, how joyful I am making that connection! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to have breakfast."_

 _Egg Robo disappeared, forgetting to turn the stove off._

* * *

 _*Ding dong, bing bong*_

I opened my eyes as I heard a familiar bell ring out. As I rolled over, I saw the monitor in my room turn on. Sure enough, I saw the crest, and Egg Robo's face as he held the cocktail I saw him with last time. However, there was noticeably a plate of eggs in the corner of the shot.

"Good morning, everyone! It's now 7 a.m., and nighttime is officially over! It's time to not only rise and shine, but also to get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!" he said, as the monitor turned off. I got up from bed, eyes hurting and a small headache. I scratched my head, grabbing my helmet. Apparently, it's morning... but thanks to the total lack of windows, there's no way to know for sure.

"In fact, I bet it's probably dark out," I muttered, putting my helmet on. "If this ring dimension even HAS a passage of time. But whatever, what should I do now?"

I remembered Cream's face just then. Maybe I should go find her, and think of what we should do next. She DID say she was my assistant now.

"Okay, just gonna... make my bed," I said while stretching. "And then head out to see her!"

That was until I got out from bed and stopped midway in flight.

"...at least, I'll have a bathroom break and a shower first."

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Surviving the Game of Death**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 2**

After taking care of my chores, I exited my room as I saw Sonic by the end of the hall. He waved to me as he ran towards me in a flash.

"Morning, Charmy!" he said in a cheerful tone.

"O-oh, good morning, Sonic," I replied.

"Glad to see you got energy this morning! I like that in people! I had my daily chili dog, ran around the place for a bit... yup! I think my morning is starting off great! I sure hope yours is too! We gotta do our best today!"

"Y-yeah! I do plan to do so."

"That's the spirit! I'm gonna go wake up Tails, so if you excuse me..."

Sonic ran off to Tails' room as I stood there. Was he always like this?...

As if my morning couldn't get more eventful, Espio came around the corner.

"Whoa! You scared me!" I exclaimed, taken off guard at how he just suddenly appeared. Then again, he WAS the Ultimate Ninja.

"Ah, good morning Charmy," he said in that slick tone of his. "I'm glad to see you're up so early. It does a body and mind good when you have the entire day to do anything you'd like when you wake up early. I'm glad this place provides a good time for rest."

"Y-yeah..."

Just then, my stomach growled.

"Ah, it appears you are hungry. Well, I shouldn't bother you. You should probably go and have something for breakfast."

"R-Right. See you around, Espio."

"Likewise, Charmy Bee."

He walked off, eyes closed. I swear... something about him just kind of mystified me. I mean, what WAS I supposed to think about him?

I decided to not let it get to me and buzzed over to the dining hall. There, I saw Tikal, Vector, and Wave there already having something. Tikal smiled as she saw me.

"Oh, Charmy! Good morning!" she said.

"Likewise," Vector added, seemingly not too invested into the conversation.

"Morning guys. Hey, where's something to eat? I'm hungry," I replied.

"In the kitchen. Where else would it be?" Wave replied.

"They have so many things to eat!" Tikal said, biting into her bagel. "It's such a shame that I can't enjoy them all in one day..."

"You could. If you wanted to cope with our situation here by over eating."

Offended by that comment, I saw Tikal frown. Hoping to not get involved with anything, and also seeing how Vector was indifferent, I buzzed on over to the kitchen as I wondered what I could eat. It was there that I opened the fridge and saw a box filled with donuts of all kinds. I smiled, realizing that some of my absolute favorites were in there.

"Ooh, just gonna get one of these, and one of these..." I said to myself, coming out with three donuts, and a gallon of milk for me to enjoy. Before I dug in, I looked to the side to see other baked goods in the fridge.

 _"Maybe I should get something for Cream too before I go and meet her..."_ I thought, immediately digging into my first donut.

After eating breakfast, I made my way to Cream's room holding a plate with two croissants on it. Noticing the doorbell, I pressed it. Hearing a 'ding dong' sound, Cream opened the door halfway seconds later.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Good morning, Cream!" I replied, a smile on my face. "I brought you something for breakfast."

"Oh, Charmy!" Cream now opened the door wide, smiling as I noticed she had her sundress on but not her straw hat. "Thank you so much!"

I handed her the croissant as she gasped. "Ooh, croissants! I love these! Thank you, Charmy!"

As she gleefully ate one, she swallowed and then looked at me, wiping her mouth with a napkin I handed her. "It's good timing you're here too!"

"Huh?"

"Listen, I have a favor to ask..." She put the last of her croissant in her mouth.

"A favor? What's going on?"

"I was just getting ready to head out. If it's okay, would you like to come with me? Maybe we could talk..."

I felt a jolt. Was... she actually inviting me somewhere?

"Of course! Where are you headed?"

"Oh... ummm..." Cream looked embarrassed as she twiddled her thumbs, still holding her other uneaten croissant. "You see, I don't want you to get the wrong idea, but I've been thinking about this whole killing thing. And I realized... maybe as a precaution, I should get something for self-defense."

"I mean, I get WHY but... well, why?!" I was taken aback. She had all the reason for wanting something but... what happens if she DID fight back?

"Well, I mean... whoever's keeping us here could show up and attack us any time. You never know! I'm sorry if it seems so out of place for me to say..."

Now she had more of a point... whoever put us in this insane position, we never will know when they might attack. Or worse of all... one of us.

"So I just... want to be able to protect myself no matter what happens," Cream continued on. I guess my question is now... where could we find something? As I pondered about it, I remembered that the display case in the gym entryway had a bunch of stuff. Perhaps that could be...?

"Oh, the gym? That's a good idea to start! Let's go!" she suddenly said, smiling.

"A-Again?" I sputtered. And let me guess...

"Like I said, I'm psychic," she said seriously, before smiling again. "Come on, I'm just kidding! Seriously, I just have amazing intuition."

Is that ACTUALLY the truth or are you hiding something from me, Cream?...

I guess the bigger question is: Am I really so easy to predict? Regardless, I know I'd get a headache thinking about, so it's best we head to the gym now.

"Alright, let's go," I said, buzzing my way out of the hall as Cream followed right behind me. We entered through the gates and went through the hallway.

"Hey, um..." Cream began. "Have you experienced anything strange at all?"

"Hm? Well, besides this whole situation, not really. What about you?" I replied.

"Well, not necessarily. Although, I swear I heard something last night from outside... I dunno, it was probably my imagination."

"Did you stay up late?"

"I won't lie, I did. I was displaying my potted plants in my room, and giving them water too."

"You know, you should probably make a good meal out of vegetables and fruits. They're probably not the ones you grow, but I think they should have good quality ingredients."

"Um... well I'll see! I could make a salad, but if we're doing a big student-wide feast, I can't like... ACTUALLY cook stuff like meats and other things like that. You should help me with that, Charmy!"

"Me? I mean, no no, I couldn't... I mean, I just know how to cook rice and pour honey on things!"

"Don't sell yourself short, Charmy! Maybe you could cook something delicious!"

I blushed. To think she had all of this confidence in me... it was cute honestly. In fact, if we got out, maybe I'll cook her a nice meal...

Before we made our way to the gym, we ran into Amy and Sonic. Amy was looking pleased, while Sonic seemed to not be in such a hot mood.

"Well, look who it is! Hey guys!" Amy said in a cheerful mood.

"Oh, hello Amy," I said.

"Greetings to you, Ms. Rose. What are you up to?" Cream asked.

"I was picking up where I left off yesterday. With my Darling Sonic with me, I know we'll find something today!"

"Amy..." Sonic groaned. "It's good that you wanna help find but I think you can do this by yourself-"

"Oh Sonic, don't be silly! This is how couples soon fall in love!"

Sonic turned to me and gave me a blank look. "Is Cream already falling for you?"

I was taken aback by that statement. I mean sure she was cute but that meant nothing because there's no way she'd-

"I think Charmy does have a small little crush, yes!" Cream smiled.

…thanks.

Sonic whistled. "Whew boy. Well, I guess I'll leave you two alone with whatever you were doing. I'm just... gonna be here... with Amy. Oh boy..."

Saying goodbye, we continued to make our way down the hall as Cream looked at me. "I don't think Mr. Sonic likes Amy all that much," she said.

"It's pretty obvious he doesn't. He probably thinks of her as some obsessive fan. You know hugely popular people definitely have them."

"Oh, and Charmy?"

"Hm?"

"You do actually have a crush on me, don't you?"

...damn, smoked again.

* * *

After avoiding another awkward situation, we were finally at the gym lobby. The first thing we did was walk over to the glass display case to the left side of the room. As we looked around, there I spotted it: a... gold machete? I reached out, feeling the dullness of the blade.

"Oh, this is just a replica. Still, it's impressive, right?" I said to Cream, pointing at it. I touched it and as I did, I couldn't help but notice just how glittery it was. In fact, when I took my hand off of the handle, I quickly realized just how TOO glittery it was.

"Wow, your hands are gold Charmy! That must be a lot of gold coating on that..." Cream said. "Even if this is for self-defense, I don't think a gold coated machete would do you much good."

"I mean, I GUESS it's better than nothing, right?"

"How about you take it, Charmy? I think I could find something else, but that might help liven up your room!"

"You think so? I mean, it's not mine."

"I'm sure Egg Robo won't mind. But if you're going to take it back, I think you should wrap it in newspaper."

Well, I guess with that, it's been decided who's keeping this...

"Well, I don't see anything I could use for self-defense..." Cream sighed.

"Why not one of the trophies? When I used to play soccer, I'd get trophies that could really hurt someone if you hit them hard against the head with it."

"I guess you're right, but I feel like a trophy wouldn't do me much good..."

"W-well hey, don't worry about it! It's not like you need it right away, right?" I said, trying to calm Cream down. "And plus, if anything WERE to happen... When the time comes, I'll protect you!"

I puffed out my chest, trying to make myself seem like some big strong person when in reality, I was just this small bee who was thinking way too big into a murder game. Cream however, was taken aback by what I said.

"You'll... protect me?" she said, hand over her mouth. She then blushed as she brought them up to her cheeks. "Thank you for saying that... If I have you on my side, I guess I don't need a weapon after all!"

She giggled, and as I saw her smile, I could tell it came from her heart. I felt at ease watching it, and when I look at her... I feel like I can do anything.

"Okay, I think the machete should be good enough. We can stop looking for a weapon. But I think we can hang out a little more! So uhh..." Cream I could tell was feeling awkward from the way she was looking. "I know I said I wanted to hang out more but now that I'm here, I don't really know what TO talk about... And I was the one who invited you to come with me... I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said, assuring her. "I mean, if there's nothing to talk about, then we can just not talk, right?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have to force yourself to talk. We can just, I dunno, stare off into space or something."

"Stare off into space?..."

"Oh, but you're probably bored just standing around and doing nothing..."

"Oh no! It's not that it's boring! It's just... I've never really done it before. I don't really... you know, do nothing as you say."

"I guess that makes sense. You're not a normal zone kid like me. You have things you have to do that I'm sure you're busy with, like your gardening or baking."

Cream was silent for a second before she spoke up again. "Hey, um... this is kinda out of nowhere, but... Charmy, do you have any dreams?"

"Well, what about you Cream? What's your dream? I'd love to hear!"

"I... um... well... I was actually raised by my momma my whole life. I got my love of gardening and baking from her, and some of my favorite memories were of watering flowers with her, and baking cookies every Christmas. With my Ultimate ability, I hope to one day live on my own farm, have a family, and be able to grow as much as I can and bake to my heart's content. And with how things are going, I'm slowly getting there closer and closer each day."

"That's amazing! I mean, with how much you probably get recognized, and how much you might make from competitions, I'm sure you can reach it! Heck, we'll not only be calling you the Ultimate Gardener, but I think we can call you the Ultimate Gardener AND Baker! Honestly, it's incredible!"

She was silent as she looked stern for a second. "I'd love to share your enthusiasm Charmy, but... I did whatever it took to reach that dream. Even... things that weren't pleasant."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I believe for your dreams to happen, you have to chase them no matter what. But to do that, you can't take your eyes off of your dreams at all. Even if it's bad, to make it happen, you need to be fixed on it no matter what. In this world, if you lose focus for even a split second, you get left behind. You have to keep on swimming against the current, not even taking time to breathe. That's the kind of world my dream lives in."

"Is it that tough? Is it not fun at all? Sorry, I guess I'm having a little trouble following."

"Oh, no no no! Don't get the wrong idea. It's super fun what I do with my gardening and my baking! But... that's what scares me."

"Huh?"

"...as I'm sure you heard, I said that I was raised by my mother all my life. Before I was born, my father died. As a result, my momma is the only person I have in this world, and really... the person who IS my world. She taught me how to grow beautiful sunflowers, and the right temperatures to bake bread. To say she means so much to me is the understatement of the century. Without her, I would have given up on my dream a long time ago. To learn what she's taught me, to continue learning from her, and finally putting what I learned to practice... it brings me so much happiness. But that's why... that's the thing that scares me the most. Momma's only getting older as the days go by, and I still have yet to learn everything from her. I'm an Ultimate of course, but that doesn't mean there's still stuff she can't teach me. And if she dies when I haven't learned everything, then my dream dies too, and I don't know where to go from there. I want to be the one who supports her in her aging days, not to be forced to wander the earth like some lost girl who doesn't know how life works."

I frowned as I listened to her. Hearing talk about her mom, her fears of her only getting older as we stayed here... It's no wonder why she was trembling. She worked so hard to gain all of her achievements, and her hard work was thanks to her mother teaching her the ways she would put into practice. She wants to be someone who provides the best for her... and doesn't want to lose that.

"...that's why I came to Green Hills. I knew that once I left, I can finally give momma the life she deserved. At least, that's what I thought. I really did believe that, but... now we're trapped here, with no way out. She's waiting for me... while I'm in here, momma slowly forgets about me..."

Cream's eyes widened as she grew paler. She put her hands close to her as she began to breathe heavily. I reached out a hand to her, hoping it would comfort her, but she backed off.

"Charmy, don't you get it? Minute by minute, we're all disappearing. But still..."

"Cream?"

Then, she freaked, letting out a yell as she finally broke down. "I.. I can't afford to be stuck in here anymore!"

Her straw hat fell down to the floor as I looked at her. That was the first time I had heard her cry out from deep within herself. She sounded so... desperate. But I can understand why she'd feel that way. Trapped here this way, she wanted nothing more than to live the dream she put so much effort into one day having, and supporting the person who meant so much as a way to thank her for everything she's done...

It was on the verge of disappearing forever.

And that isn't something that can be fixed with words. The weight she's carrying... I can't even imagine it.

Cream took a deep breath as she slowly picked up her hat and placed it back on her head.

"Ah... I'm... I'm sorry you had to see me like this, Charmy. I didn't mean to complain..." she said, embarrassed. I... I killed the mood of our little hang out session, right?"

I shook my head. "No, no not at all!"

Cream didn't want to look at me, so she simply looked at the ground. "I'm really sorry..."

I took a deep breath, knowing the only way to make her feel at ease was to find some kind of comforting words. "Um, Cream..."

Then I froze. I didn't really know WHAT to tell her.

But then, I realized that sometimes, you don't need to have some big conversation and everything is hunky dory. In fact, sometimes just enjoying yourselves is like... like saying...

"...why don't we head to the dining hall?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"I know we had breakfast but... why don't we go back for seconds?"

Cream then lit up. "Oh! I'd love to! Perhaps I can see if there's any ingredients for me to make anything... I told you that I can only really make vegetable and fruit dishes, and pastries... I can also make chili oil."

"Uh... chili oil?"

"Heehee, just kidding!" she laughed. It was almost like her earlier mood never happened, replaced by the bright smile I'd known her by.

But how did it happen so fast?

Regardless, I didn't pry too much into it. After we left the gym and headed to the dining hall, we went straight into the kitchen and narrowly avoided Jet, who held the last glazed donut from the fridge.

"Suck..." I said, my antennae falling as I frowned.

"Don't worry about it, Charmy! I'm sure I'll be able to make some if I find anything!"

* * *

After enjoying seconds, we went back to our rooms as I placed the machete I got from the gym lobby on my table.

"Man... all this does is make me feel more comfortable..." I said to myself, barely being able to see my reflection in the blade's handle. I scratched my chin... there was still plenty of time left in the day, so what could I do that isn't sitting around?

 **FREE TIME**

As I left my room, I opened up my PAD to check the map of the whole zone. Sure enough, I noticed that one of the only places I had yet to visit was the zone store. So, I buzzed my way into the main hallway and headed to the direction of the zone store. When I finally arrived, I saw a huge cart with all kinds of products on it. It reminded me a lot of the stands I'd see on the streets going home from school. Rouge was also there, looking at everything in the store.

"Ah, Charmy, you're here. It's so good to see you, darling," she said, smiling.

"Oh, hi Rouge. Did you see anything you like?" I replied.

"Unfortunately no. Everything here seems to be rather cheap, or tends to be stuff like food. I dunno if I'm interested in the stuff here, but I'm looking around to see if there's anything worthwhile. There's also a gacha machine right there." She pointed at a gashapon machine on the cart. "I dunno, I haven't tried it but it seems like something a little kid like you would be into."

"Well, I guess it's not too bad. I'd sometimes play these while coming home after school."

"Aren't those for little kids?"

"Well, you still get some kind of excitement finding out what's in them. And besides, I like to collect some sets they have."

"Fair point. Still, if they have any beautiful looking gems, feel free to let me have them." She smiled. "Well, I'll check later. Have fun with your capsule machine."

Rouge left as I buzzed to the machine. I noticed it took something called "EggRings". Remembering that I had actually found them in the times where I explored the zone on my free time, I put one in, turned the knob, and got out a capsule. It was a bottle of water.

My first question was: "How in the name of Gaia did a bottle of water fit in a small little capsule?"

And my second question was: "Do I want to continue?"

The answer to that, might not shock you.

As I continued to put rings in and got more presents, I was reminded about when I was a kid and putting rings into machines to get these little toy aliens... I still had them now that I think back to it.

"Oh Rouge, you treat me like a kid, but you sure don't know just how fun this is," I smiled. I couldn't believe it. Here I was, stuck in a zone for the rest of my life, having fun pulling out capsules from a machine. Sure enough, I ran out of EggRings, but I felt my loot today was good.

"I'm gonna give Cream something great," I beamed, buzzing out from the store and heading over to Cream's room. I rang the doorbell, and seconds later, Cream came out.

"You know, Charmy..." she began. "I'm glad that you're here. I'm so anxious... and afraid."

"Well, do you wanna hang out? Maybe that can get your mind off of it," I replied.

"Are you going to... try and cheer me up? Sorry for making you take time out of your day like this."

"Aw, don't worry about it! Here, we don't we go into your room for a bit?"

"I don't mind, sure. I don't want anyone to see me right now too... I don't want to worry them."

"Well, let's forget about the don't wants and focus on the wants, okay?"

She briefly smiled. "I guess you're right."

We entered the room as I tried to comfort Cream as best as I could. She held her pillow close as she talked to me about how scary things were becoming.

"Well, either way, I'm gonna uphold my promise!" I said as she finished. "I'd protect you, wouldn't I?"

"I know, Charmy... but, that doesn't change just how scary things are..."

I frowned, but then I knew just what would cheer her up.

"Hey Cream, why don't you take this?" I said, pulling out a stuffed Chao. "I think you would love it."

Cream looked surprised but then smiled. "It's... it's so adorable! Thank you so much, Charmy!"

She put down her pillow and began to hug the Chao plush, smiling. "This reminds me of my childhood Chao, Cheese. I miss him so much... And I never had a Chao doll before... I will always appreciate this, Charmy."

I smiled. Seeing Cream be this happy with something I gave her made me happy too!

She looked up from her new doll and looked at me. "Uhh... Charmy? Do you think we can talk just a little more?"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"You know, having you by my side really makes me feel a lot better. If you weren't here with me, I just don't know what I'd do. I'd be lost... I hate that we met in such conditions but... I'm relieved I met you regardless."

"Cream..." I said, feeling her warmth simply from her presence. Standing here face to face and hearing her say that... It's nice, but kind of embarrassing at the same time.

"I know how you feel. I think it's a shame I met you here. If we had known each other for long, we could definitely pass for childhood friends. You being here saved me too."

"Ahhh... R-Really? Ehehe... thank you for the flattery..."

She flashed her lovely, yet mysterious smile... the smile that softened my heart. I really wasn't flattering her, I think that smile saved me.

"But it's kind of strange, you know?" she said. "To think that we never did meet..."

"What was your past at your old zone like?" I asked.

"My past? Oh, lovely. Primary zone is where my love for gardening began, and I even convinced my school to set up a garden in the front of it. Sure enough, I grew my first successful batch of flowers. They were just some simple sunflowers, but then it grew to flowers and fruits and veggies for science experiments, and it grew from there. That was just one zone."

"Aw, that's cute. How is it like looking back?"

"Well, all Ultimates start somewhere, right?"

"Easy for you to say. I was just a plain kid in primary zone. I had Coach Gunnar as my coach back then and he expected every kid to run just like he could. And if you couldn't, he put you in what he called the 'crash course diet' route, where you had to run 100 laps around the baseball field without stopping and the only time he'd check up on you is if you passed out and didn't recover."

"That sounds awful..."

"Isn't it? And that's just one story!"

"It sounds like your zone life was more interesting than mine."

"Aw, don't sell yourself short! I know you have your fair share of stories."

"I guess you're right. Even then, it relieves me knowing that you're someone who had such an incredible life. You never dealt with the stress of people expecting 100% from you, or even just the epitome of perfection. You were... you. That's why I believe that you'll help us get out. It's just intuition, I know, but I still believe it."

"I'll do my best, I promise that. I'll make sure that it's more than just intuition. If there's anything I can do, I'm going to do it!"

"I believe in you. Besides, my intuition always turns out to be right! Cause, I'm psychic. Ha ha, kidding!"

She laughed saying that. The closer we got, the stronger that smile of hers made me feel. I was glad to feel that way.

From that, I decided to hang out a little longer until I decided it was time to unwind for the day. I headed back to my room when the usual night bell rang out in my room. As usual, the panel light up, zone crest displayed, and Egg Robo sitting in his chair sipping a cocktail.

"Mm, ahem," he began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

Today's already came to an end, but I knew tomorrow would be the start of another day! And from tomorrow, I'd find something new! I swore it on myself, and also swore I'd do this for Cream too.

As I took off my helmet, got under the covers and made myself comfortable, my eyelids began to slide closed. Just then, the conversation I'd had with Cream that morning began to replay. In a way, it's almost frustrating. Even if I understand where her desperation is coming from, I can't share in it. The pressure she's under is way different than what someone like me goes through. She didn't stumble into Green Hills the way I did.

So I can't say I feel things the way she does.

Compared to her... no, compared to everyone else here, there's no doubt I just don't match up. I guess that might explain my own frustration.

And with that, I soon found myself falling asleep seconds later.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Ahem," he began. "So, I'm sure you've noticed the killing game has begun, but... there's still a little room for laughter! It seems our new students, already so filled with despair, still have some hope of escape! Ho ho ho... so when will it begin? When will their hope die? When will despair truly hit them like a freight train going at over 100 mile per hour? Is it time? I can't for that heartpounding excitement!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	5. Chapter 1 (Daily Life 3 & 4 (Part 1))

**(AN: Welcome back for another part of Despair Hill Zone! As you're noticing, this one is split between two days because well... day 3 was so short because no real huge event happens in it. As I said, this is where filler does come in, but not to worry! Day 4 has some... brand new stuff added into the mix. How so? You'll have to read and see!**

 **Thank you for any and all support for the fic so far! It really does help me a lot and let's me know that people are reading!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo spun around in his chair, a look of boredom on his face._

 _"Maaaaaaan, what takes a bunch of youngins to get them murdering? I really gotta get on their case for that. I'm bored bored bored!" he bemoaned, continuing to spin around. "No, I got it! Yeah, I'll do it tomorrow though... Then we'll see what we've got planned. And when I show them... Ho ho ho! Egg Robo, you're a genius!"_

 _Then he got out from his chair, dizzy, and knocking into the various objects in his quarters. "Okay... maybe I shouldn't have done that..."_

 _All it took was a knock into the wall to get him on the ground._

* * *

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

Sure enough, on cue, there was the morning bell. And as I slowly opened my eyes and got up from my bed, the monitor turned on, and Egg Robo's face appeared on it.

"Good morning, everyone! It's now 7 a.m., and nighttime is officially over! It's time to not only rise and shine, but also to get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!" he said, as the monitor turned off.

Morning has come once again, but I wonder... what should I do today?

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Surviving the Game of Death**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 3 & 4 (Part 1)**

* * *

 **Free Time**

After my morning shower, I left my room and came into contact with... Storm.

"Oh, morning lil' guy," he said, taking notice of me.

"Oh, Storm... Good morning,"

"I was just on my way to deliver breakfast to the boss. I would ask you to come with me but... well I don't want Wave to see."

"Wow, you're definetly a lot more nicer than Jet and Wave. What's your story?"

"Hey, don't make me out to be some kinda softie! I'm just like this cause I guess I know how it feels to be treated not okay. I ain't gonna stop though! I guess I'm just more considerate than the boss or Wave."

That's... weird to say the least.

"More importantly, I gotta deliver some food to the boss so step aside! The boss doesn't like to be kept waiting!"

Storm ran off, leaving me behind with my blank look.

"What a weirdo..." I commented. Still, I couldn't deny his loyalty to Jet. I just didn't know why of all people, he'd be loyal to JET...

Regardless, I buzzed to the kitchen, got breakfast, and was ready to begin my day. Egg Robo wasn't around to ruin it for me, and things were calm as I saw Blaze and Silver interact by the corner, and Amy with her arm around Sonic's waist.

But who should I hang out with?

As I buzzed down the halls, I saw Tails come out of his room and stretch. He noticed me, and smiled as he walked over to me.

"Oh, good morning Charmy! It's good to see you in high spirits this morning!" he exclaimed. "I was on my way to get breakfast and maybe see if Sonic wanted to hang out. Did you wanna join me?"

"Well," I began. "Amy's a little busy with Sonic right now, and I already had breakfast. So..."

And I thought about it for a little bit... did I want to hang out with Tails today?

"...yeah, I'll join along!"

"Alright! Let's head out, I'm in the mood for a plate of scrambled eggs."

And so, me and Tails headed to the dining hall, and then straight to the kitchen. I helped him out with his breakfast, and after 4 cracked eggs into a pan, Tails enjoyed his nice big plate of food as I talked to him in the meantime. I watched as Silver gagged, saying he loathed the smell of eggs.

After Tails was finished, we left the dining hall.

"Thanks for accompanying me, Charmy! We had a fun time!" he said, smiling.

I could feel that Tails and I grew a little closer today. Maybe I should give him another one of the presents I earned...

As I dug around my pockets, I felt one for a book that I got from the gacha machine. It was called "Mechanics of Flight", and I knew it was something Tails would enjoy. So, I gave it to him.

"You're giving this to me? Wow, thank you so much! I've been meaning to buy this for a while!" he said, happily taking it. Seeing Tails be so happy with something I got him makes me happy too!

"So Tails," I began. "When we met, you said that you were really good at making inventions. What kind of inventions do you make?"

"Oh, nothing that really will change humanity, just some fun little stuff. My first proper invention was a massive griddle that cooked anything for breakfast like pancakes, bacon, and eggs when I was just 8."

J-Just eight?! And that's what you call 'fun little stuff'?!

"Later on, I got to work on a whole bunch of other inventions. I got to build my first robot when I was 11, I named it UT."

"Whoa, a robot? What could it do?"

"Well, UT could translate any language, but also detect people's opinions. For example, it can detect fake positivity, notice patterns in speech, and even translate what you really meant!"

"And you made that at 11?"

"Well, yeah!"

"Wow... and why don't we call you the Ultimate Robotic Builder or something like that?"

"Well, at the end of the day, I'm still Sonic's sidekick. I've built a lot of stuff for him too or stuff to be by his side. I built my first plane, the Tornado, mainly so I could keep up with him while he's training for his running stuff. Or how I even gave him upgrades to his running shoes, and that kinda stuff. Either way, me and Sonic have a long history, and it's with him that I think I can keep going with my inventions."

"That's really impressive. Although don't you worry that you and Sonic have different paths?"

Tails looked down at his feet. "You do have a point... that's why me and Sonic have talked a lot about our future."

"Do you plan to go down the same path as him?"

"Well, I was considering going to university. Sonic was wanting to continue his track career, but with him being the giant hero that he is, I think that he's being molded into a future hero. And if that's the case, then I better follow him to the ends of the earth!"

"But what if you do decide to split?"

"I guess that is a possibility... B-But it's okay! My latest invention will help me mimic Sonic, and it's been one I've been working on for a long while! It's on my laptop, and I've been working on it each night. Hopefully while I'm here, I'm able to get it done."

A new invention, and a friend that backs him up... something tells me that Sonic and Tails' bond is something I might not ever understand. But maybe I don't have to. After all, their friendship is beyond even any normal friendship. Maybe... maybe later I'll ask how they met.

And so, after some more chatting, Tails and I parted ways as I knew there was still time left in the day. As I was buzzing back to my room, a blue blur sped past me as Knuckles angrily chased after it.

"Huh?!" I was taken aback, pushed aside by Knuckles as he yelled to come back. Sure enough, the blur came back in front of me, and stopped.

"Yo, Charmy!" Sonic said, shaking his head. "Here, hold onto this for me."

"Wha-"

Before I could respond, Sonic handed me a necklace with green jewels on it. Knuckles stopped in front of us, clearly angry.

"Sonic, give it back!" he yelled.

"Aw, your necklace thing? I didn't take it. Charmy did!" the hedgehog replied. Sonic stepped aside as I was face to face with the angry echidna. My antennae fell as I realized that Sonic made me take the fall for him.

"U-Um... H-Here you are?" I said, passing the necklace back to him. After getting punched in the face by Shadow, getting punched by Knuckles wasn't next on my agenda. Sure enough, he snatched the necklace, huffed, and walked off.

"Jeez, what a dork. Not even having a little bit of fun," Sonic stretched.

"Well, you know he isn't too social. He probably thought you were going to damage it or something."

"Can't he just get another? I'd be happy to give him the dough for it."

"I don't think this is anything you could buy at the store..."

"Eh, I'm sure its fine. Either way, not like I was gonna damage it. I just needed someone to chase me because I'm bored bored bored!"

Even if his little prank was rude... Should I hang out with Sonic?

He was right here, kinda already talking to him now... Yeah, I guess I might as well.

"Whoa, you wanna hang?" he asked. "Awesome! Now, if you wanna catch up with me, let's race!"

"Ra-race?! I dunno, I-"

"Last one to go around the entire first floor has to go to the kitchen and get one of those delicious watermelon sodas!"

Before I could even say a word, Sonic already sped off. I knew I didn't have a chance but... I might as well humor him.

And so, Sonic and I raced around the entire first floor, and it wasn't hard to figure out who won that race. As a result, I had to net Sonic the soda he wanted from the kitchen, as well as a chili dog. He ate it with glee as I continued to pant.

For as unfair as our race was, I think it's easy to say that Sonic and I grew a little closer today. I decided to give him another present, this time being one of the things I got from the gacha machine. I figured he would have enjoyed a stopwatch, and sure enough, he did.

"Wow! Maybe I can do a test with Tails to see how much I can improve!" Sonic said. "Thanks, Charmy!"

I smiled. Seeing Sonic be pleased with something I got him made me happy!

Sonic finished up his food and drink and smiled at me. "Heyo, Charmy! I gotta ask, what do you know about running?"

"Uh, running? Well, I never did like track during school... In fact I didn't really do sports at all back in secondary zone."

"Whaaaat? What did you do after school?"

"Uh, go home?"

"Maaaan, I thought I could gush over running with someone. Eh, what a shame. You do at least know a little bit right? Like, do you remember the International Mobius Sports Competition two years back? Do you know what time the world record for 100m Dash was at?"

"100 meter dash?... Well..."

Now that I thought back to it, I remember it being huge news when that entire competition was going on. It was 9 seconds... 9 seconds...

And then I remember Saffron gushing over the record.

 _"9.58, Charmy! That's so impressive! And it was set by a shrew too!"_ she said to me that night.

"Was it... 9.58?"

"Yeah, good job! It was set by Shifty the Shrew, someone I guess you could call my rival! Me and him are basically one upping one another, but guess who got the title of Ultimate Runner? This guy! Sure, I'm in this dumb killing game but, once I leave... I'm gonna show his dumb face what the Ultimate Runner can do!"

"Have you always been able to run so fast?"

"Actually, I'm sure you won't believe it, but I actually was. My uncle said that when I was born, I had very developed legs and bone structure that no newborn like me should have had. It was actually found out that thanks to a gene from my dad's side of the family, I was given the ability to run super-fast. In fact, I even got up on my own two legs just before I hit a year old."

"Wow... and what about walking and running?"

"Oh, those are easy. Not too long after I learned to stand, I started walking. And by age two, I realized my speed. Of course, my uncle said that I was really wild when I first learned to run, so I had to start controlling it more and more."

"Well, at least it got to where you are now, right?"

"You sure ask a lot of questions, you know that?"

"Eh heh... sorry, I guess you could say I'm just a lil curious."

Now I was getting a little nervous. Here I was, making a buffoon out of myself in front of someone like Sonic. Honestly, it sure is like me to do such a thing.

"Well, if I'll be totally honest... sometimes I think of it as a curse." Sonic said, a little glum.

"A curse? Well, why?" I asked.

"I dunno... I guess there's a few factors. One being that there's a lot of people who only wanna be friends with me for my speed. They don't see Sonic the hedgehog who can run fast but also do so many other things, they just see Sonic the... hedgehog who can run fast, and that's it. Second is well... even if I was given this ability, should it really be me? Couldn't it be someone else who has like a poor family or something? I'm happy being a hero as is, but... I dunno, I have a lot of confliction about my ability. Heh, here we are having our first real convo and here I am venting to you. This is the kinda stuff I say to Tails."

I was a bit silent. It wasn't like Sonic to show all this stuff about himself. Either way, I think it shows that he's just as human as me...

"I mean, if you could get rid of it, would you?"

"That's the thing, I understand that it has its uses. I've talked to Tails about this, and he says I shouldn't have to worry. Who I am is who I am, and I don't need to change that."

"Speaking of Tails, he was mentioning to me how you two have known each other for a while."

"That... maybe I'll tell you later. I think I've already opened the wide huge hole that is my life but... well I guess I'm here, aren't I?"

Sonic flashed a quick grin, and sure enough, I knew he was back to normal.

After saying goodbye, I felt my stomach rumble, as I failed to realize that I had neglected lunch all day. So, I headed over to the dining hall, where I saw Cream eating some yogurt.

"Oh, Charmy!" she said. "It's so good to meet you. I didn't know where you were all day."

I chuckled. "Sorry... I guess you could say I got carried away with talking to other people. I'm sorry we didn't hang out today."

"No no, it's fine! I assume that sometimes you need your space too. Would you like to join me for lunch?"

"Oh, I'd love to!"

* * *

After lunch and for the rest of the day, I kinda really didn't do anything remarkable. I guess sometimes, like real life, you have those days where you don't really get much done at all. Besides, not every day needs to be some huge, event happening day which results in SOMEONE dying.

I shuddered. I had completely forgot about that stupid killing game until now. I guess having fun with everyone here has made me forget that Egg Robo told us to kill one another.

Maybe if this was a game of laser tag, yeah, I'd be down for that. But actual murder...

 _"It's the ultimate sin of mankind!"_

Tikal had a point, murder really is a sin that can't be erased.

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

Sure enough, the regular zone bell played, and the monitor woke up.

"Mm, ahem," He began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

The third day has already come to an end...

I sighed as I continued to lie on my bed.

When will I... no no, when will WE get out of here?

Three days and it feels like there's nothing more this zone has for us. One floor, the same people... is this our life now?

I soon found myself dozing off, never really finding the answer to my question.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Do you know what so many things in this world runs on? Speed. Think about the speed of your computer, your cell phone, your car, you get the idea. Each day we always focus on the speed of things. One minute you could be yelling at the fast food worker who's serving your breakfast, telling them to hurry up because you only have half an hour to get to work, then the next you're on the road, but honking your horn because you're in traffic and you need it to hurry up because you'll be late. Regardless, speed is such a wonder of the world! You could be as fast as the male orgasm, or as slow as Neptune's orbit around the sun. Take one of my lovely children for example, he's the Ultimate Runner, and a master of speed! I think if everyone else followed his example in terms of speed, we wouldn't have such a problem with time anymore!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

There it is once again: my new alarm clock that just turned on.

"Good morning, everyone! It's now 7 a.m., and nighttime is officially over! It's time to not only rise and shine, but also to get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!" Egg Robo said, the monitor turning off.

Groggily getting up after having to hear that irritating voice first thing in the morning for about... four days straight? I yawned, rubbed my eyes, grabbed my helmet from my stand, and slowly pulled myself out of bed.

"Another night of restless sleep..." I told myself. "Day after day, I feel the fatigue piling up."

And as luck would have it...

 ***ding dong***

I looked at my door confused. The... doorbell? Who could be wanting to talk to me? It could be Cream after all... but I think she'd be the type to wait for me.

Letting my wings stretch, I buzzed over to the door and opened it, where I was greeted to a familiar blue hedgehog smiling.

"Charmy, how are you doing? A fantastic morning, isn't it?!" Sonic said with energy in his voice.

"Oh... Sonic, good morning. You certainly have energy this morning."

"'Course I do! I just got up and ran 10 laps around the perimeters of the first floor after all!"

T-Ten laps?! You make it sound like it was nothing...

"Well, that's beside the point. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, right! Sorry for the interruption, I just decided that since we haven't had our breakfast meeting in a few days, we should come together again and discuss any new developments! More important, I think that after our meetings, we should all have breakfast together!"

"I mean, why do you think so?"

"Well, if we're all gonna get out, we all have to support one another! Having breakfast each morning can be the start to that! Now, try and come by the dining hall at your earliest time possible! I'll let everyone else know!"

Without a reply from me, Sonic sped off across the hall. I simply stood in my room, feeling like my eyes were about to turn into ooze.

"Well, I guess I better do what he says."

* * *

As I got out into the hall, I saw the others come out of their rooms, each one of them looking either sleepy or annoyed.

"Jeez... I haven't even had the chance to put on my makeup yet and he wants me to go have breakfast now?" I heard Rouge complain. Jet and Big walked past me, where I could not only see the bags under Jet's eyes but also the stuffed frog Big carried under his arm.

"There HAS to be a better reason that blue dork woke me up this early," Wave said walking past me, her bandana nowhere in sight. Just then, someone poked my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Cream, who looked a little better than everyone else.

"Oh, good morning Cream," I said.

"Good morning, Charmy! It seems like everyone else has gotten Sonic's message, but I don't think they're too happy about it," she replied.

"Oh I don't put it past them. Look at everyone. They don't wanna be woken up this early. What about you?"

"Actually, I've woken up early sometimes for the holidays or early morning picking, other things like that. It's not too foreign for me."

"Yeah, well I could really still use the sleep time... I feel like I'm deteriorating..."

"Don't worry about it, Charmy. Let's find something good to eat, okay?"

I smiled. At least I knew this morning wasn't going to be TOO bad...

* * *

Everyone was seated the exact same way as last time, the Babylon Rogues having a table to themselves where as everyone else sat around a large rectangular table. Sonic got up and began speaking.

"Okay, it looks like everyone's here. So then, let's begin our second breakfast meeting!" he said. "Alright, quiet down and listen! First, I wanna thank you all for making time to come by here. I know you guys are tired, and you could be resting, and I think it would be best if just for today, we did it like this, and we can just wait for you guys to get prepared so we can do this."

"I didn't make time for this shit, you dragged me here you blue dolt..." I heard Jet murmur.

Ignoring the comment, Sonic continued. "So, I know I mentioned this earlier, but in order to get out of here, it's essential that we all cooperate with each other. With so many people here with different strengths, in no time we can definitely find a way out. As a result, the first step for the breakfast meetings is to become friends and build trust! That's why I mentioned our meeting times so we can do this every morning! Alright, that about sums it up! If you all have anything you'd like to mention, questions or concerns, or even if you found anything new, go right ahead and mention in! Otherwise, let's get in that kitchen and make us some nice breakfast!"

"Well, more important, has anyone come up with clues since Sonic just mentioned it?" Rouge asked

Silence echoed through the dining hall as we all looked at each other.

"Oh, come on! Seriously? Nothing at all?! I mean, ANYTHING works! How to get out, who's doing this, are you SURE you all have nothing?!"

"...I do. And it's that you're going to die," Blaze said in a harsh tone.

"Huh?!"

"If you can't stop showing weakness in the face of others, you WILL die."

"H-Hey now! Stop that! Don't joke like that!" Rouge said, her voice rising.

"Oh, I'm not joking. I did say that adaptability is survivability. Was I not clear? I'd say it's best you'd adapt quickly to your new life here."

"Have you gone insane after a couple of days? What do you mean adapt here? Are you not listening to yourself?!"

"Tch, don't listen to her, Rouge. Sounds like she wants to live here. Heh, more power to you if that's the case," Shadow said. "But shit... no way in hell I'm living here! I plan to get out, and I couldn't give a shit if that Egg robot thing says anything!"

Blaze giggled. "Sure, feel free."

"So... does nobody really have clues?" Tails asked.

"One thing I can tell you is that whoever's behind this? They are totally weird and messed up," Amy added, looking angry. "I mean, why else would we be trapped in here in the first place?"

"I mean, it could be the case. But we have no real clues... even then, there's plenty of ideas on who's the one doing this. The problem is... we're stuck here and we're expected to pick up the pieces."

"Umm..." Tikal spoke up. "I can't help but notice you mention someone who's abnormal or bizarre as to who could be doing this... Do you think the person doing this... could be a serial killer?"

Now THAT gave me a chill. The idea wasn't wrong but just... thinking about how a serial killer would be doing something like this? I've seen horror movies where messed up killers trap innocent people in their little death games... Could our situation be something like this?

"Tikal, do you have an idea as to who could be behind this?" I asked.

"Well... I'm not too certain, and even then, my knowledge on who it could be is very limited. I've only heard very few information on them-"

"Well, certainty shouldn't be a problem!" Sonic exclaimed. "Go on! Tell us who you think it might be!"

"Well... okay... Have you all heard of Rosie the Rascal?"

The chill up my spine got even worse.

Rosie the Rascal...

Once a month, I'd always hear on the news a story about another murdered person, killed by the serial killer only known as Rosie the Rascal. Even before I came to the zone, they made headlines for another murder...

But still... are they really behind this?!

"Just so we're clear, you mean THE Rosie the Rascal right? The serial killer who's been in the news and all over the internet?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've heard of her," Wave added. "The monstrous killer who's murdered scores of victims in a brutally bizarre fashion..."

"The word blood is left at every scene, only it's mispelled as 'bllood', and its written in the victim's blood," Vector added. "Whoever they are, they're like a ghost. They strike without warning, and then just disappears. The only thing we know is that the weapon is some kinda hammer. But the brutality of what the hammer does is somethin' like I've never seen when it comes to ordinary deaths by hammer. Not even I've been able to find out the truth about Rosie. Some say Rosie ain't even the real name, just a nickname given to them online."

"I heard that they've claimed about a thousand victims..." Silver said with fear in his voice.

"But isn't that some kind of urban legend? You know, like the legendary purple chao?" Rouge asked. "I mean, even like ten people would be insane."

Everyone else was silent, their faces stoic as the idea that a serial killer was doing this sunk in more. I could see however, Amy looking very distraught, but trying her best not to display it.

"Anyway, whoever Rosie the Rascal is, they're obviously some super crazy killer," Tikal said. "Curse them... anyone who kills without rhyme or reason are destined to survive as a shattered soul..."

"And if he really is some ultimate psychopath, then I wouldn't be surprised if he put together something like this," Shadow added. "Probably watched one too many torture porn movies..."

"B-But I can't be too certain. I don't have much evidence, so it's just a thought..."

"Wait, but if Rosie's the killer, isn't that a major problem for us?" Tails asked.

"I-It's okay! Everything's absolutely, positively, one HUNDRED percent gonna be okay! I mean, cuz help's gonna be here soon, right?" Amy said. The others didn't seem to catch on, but I swore it sounded like she was forcing those words...

"Whaddya mean HELP?" Jet asked.

"Well... we've been stuck in here for a few days, right? Nobody's been able to contact us, so I'm sure they're getting worried. I bet they called the police already."

Then, a laugh I grew far too familiar with soon bounced on the walls of the dining hall.

"HO HO HO HO HO HO!"

Egg Robo appeared in the middle of the table as everyone was caught off guard, backing a few inches away from him. I grabbed Cream's arm, wanting to protect her in case he was trying to do anything.

"The police? You're putting your faith with... the FILTH?!" he said, flabbergasted about what Amy said.

"What are you doing here?!" Espio questioned.

"Likewise. Explain yourself," Knuckles added.

"You guys... surely you all know the roles the police is meant to fill, right? All they're good for is being a foil! Playing a villain or an anti-hero, you get my idea! Think about it, think about all the poor innocent people shot by police. Homeless, mentally ill, different species they don't like, and that's just a couple of examples! They've done plenty of atrocities, and you just wanna blindly put your faith in them?! I mean COME ON! If you REALLY wanna get out of here, all you have to do is kill! Didn't I say so?"

Silver just began to... laugh.

"Why are you laughing?..." Tails questioned.

"You know, it's funny isn't it? It's really funny just HOW committed you are to this whole act," Silver said.

"...do you still think this is some kind of joke?" Rouge added.

"Whatever, listen up you Egg serial killer robot freak bastard! What do you want?!" Shadow questioned.

"Egg serial killer robot freak bastard, huh? That's a long name! Maybe it's Javanese?"

"We know who you are, so drop the act!"

"Jeez, why am I even talking to you in the first place?" Egg Robo then turned around. "Maybe if I ignore him, he'll just go away..."

"Hey, don't ignore me, asshole!"

"Fine fine! Let's get back to business. Your life here had already begun, and yet nobody's begun killing after a couple of days! I thought you kids nowadays were lazy and selfish considering you're always on those cellphones of yours, but you're actually working together! And I'm so bored!"

"Okay, I think I speak for EVERYONE when I say there's nothing you can say that'll make us start killing each other," I said sternly. However, Egg Robo got a glint in his eye when he heard what I said.

"Charmy... Charmy Charmy Charmy! I think you helped me figure it out!"

"Figure what out?!"

"All the mystery ingredients for the perfect murder are here! The right people, the right place, so why hasn't anyone killed yet? That's what I couldn't understand, but I just realized there was one very important piece missing!"

"Where are you going with this?"

"If you wanna know, I'll tell ya! It's a motive! Ho ho ho! It's so simple! I just have to give everyone a motive!"

"Motive? What the hell are you going on about?" Shadow questioned.

"Actually, funny that you're all here, cause I wanted to show you all something!"

"Stop changing the damn subject!"

"I have a little video I'd like you all to see. Ooh... but don't worry..." Egg Robo began to sweat. "It's not some pervy adult video that I know you all are curious about at your age. Nor is it a cute chao or woodland creature video, it's not anything like that! It's a special video for each of you showing what's going on outside of this ring dimension."

"Outside the ring dimension... are you saying, back home?" I questioned

"Ho ho ho! Looks like Master Charmy is impatient today! Why don't you just watch it and find out? Here in the zone, there's a specific place you can go that has everything you need to watch the video. Do you remember it?"

"The AV room, right? Then good. We can go watch the video right now," Vector said. "But before we do that, I'd wanna know... what ARE you? Why are ya doin' somethin' like this? And whaddya want from us?"

"What do I want from you?... Well, if you must know..."

Suddenly, just like our first day, Egg Robo's face grew dark and his glowing red eye shined even brighter.

"Despair. That's all."

Going back to his normal look, he continued, "If you want to know more about that, then you'll have to figure it out for yourselves. Do whatever you need to uncover the mystery hidden within this zone. I won't try and stop you. Cuz to be honest, it's entertaining as heck watching you guys search so desperately for answers! So I guess I want amusement from you too!"

And with that, Egg Robo vanished, leaving us all more confused.

"He's gone..." Cream said. "And once again, he left before we could find out something useful."

"Really? Cause I think we learned something VERY useful," Vector replied. "Egg Robo has no intentions of standin' in the way of our pursuit of the truth... Interestin'..."

"However, what about the video he mentioned?" Espio asked. "I'm curious about what's on it."

"Same here, but fuck, it's probably another trap," Shadow said. He began to glance around the dining hall, and when he saw my gaze, he stopped.

"Hey, Charmy! Check this out for us, would you?"

"Huh? Why me?" I questioned, wondering why I was having to go through this FIRST.

"Because you're closest to the door, right? Now stop lollygagging kid! I'm sure you'll be fine, just call for anyone if it's a trap!

I didn't want to get punched, so I realized there was only one way to go.

"Okay fine, I'll do it."

"Good, thank you so much."

Hearing him express genuine attitude was something I don't think I'll ever get used to EVER. Just then, Cream piped up.

"If Charmy's going, I'm going with him. It wouldn't be safe if he went off on his lonesome," she said.

"Heh, even better! We owe you guys a lot! If things get fucky, yell and I'll come by. We're counting on you two."

I looked at everyone, all their eyes on me and Cream as we both left the dining hall. As we left, Cream adjusted her hat.

"You know, I can't tell if Shadow is dependable or terrible," she said.

"I'd say a bit of both," I replied. To be honest, he's not... THAT bad of a person, just... not a good one either. I guess that sums up why nobody really knows much about him.

"So, where's the specific place that Egg Robo mentioned?"

"He had to have been talking about the AV room. Let's go!"

And with that, me and Cream headed out of the hotel area and to the AV room...

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	6. Chapter 1 (Daily Life 4 (Part 2) & 5)

**(AN: Welcome to another late night edition to Despair Hill Zone! This part... well... I won't say much, but this is where things are going to turn around. Bored with the filler? Don't worry... it ends here, as long as you don't mind just a little despair...)**

* * *

As Cream and I entered the AV Room, the first thing I noticed was a locker by the side of one of the monitors.

"Huh? That wasn't here last time..." Cream said, walking towards it. "Go ahead, Charmy! Open the locker."

I nodded and did what she said, opening the locker to find it full of tablets. I pulled one out, where it said "JET" printed on the top of it.

"Oh, I see! I think each one is labeled!" Cream added, pulling out another tablet that said Tikal's name on it this time. "That means we have to find ours..."

"On these must be the video for each of us Egg Robo mentioned, right?" I asked.

"Actually, let me get everyone first! Try and find yours in the meantime!"

Cream took off out of the room, leaving me alone as I stared at the locker full of tablets. I pulled them out one at a time until I finally found a tablet with my name on it.

This tablet in front of me just robbed me of all awareness... It was like I was rooted in place.

When I unlocked it, the only application on it was the video player right in the middle of the screen. Not even the contents were that exciting, all there was being the icon for the video player against a black background.

"...maybe I'll just watch mine really quick before everyone else gets here," I said. I didn't know if it was the best idea but... I just had to go with it.

I pressed the video player app and it started up without me even touching anything. I stared into the darkened screen, seeing my reflection clear as day. And then...

Three familiar faces popped up.

My mom, my dad, and Saffron, sitting in our living room. I could see the outside of our bee colony from the window as all of them had smiles on their faces.

"Ah!-" I said, off guard. I felt like crying... I missed them... I missed mom's warm hugs and smiles, dad's complaints about work that day, and Saffron's plea for me to do her homework... and that was just the extent of it...

My heart raced even more, and had Cream not been coming with everyone else, I would have started crying.

"Charmy, I'm so proud of you!" My mom began. "I hope you've been enjoying your time at Green Hills! You getting picked to attend there is like a dream come true! Make sure to do your best, and if you're ever homesick, just message me and I'll be glad to talk! I'll even send some of the honey pie I made that I know you love so much!"

"I'm so proud of you, son!" my dad added. "To think you'll leave Green Hills a true man, you'll make your old dad happy! But hey! Remember, don't push yourself too hard! It's valid wanting to do so much, but don't hurt yourself in any way doing so."

"Charmy, Charmy!" Saffron also added. "Are you watching this? Good luck, okay? I wish I could join you at a place like that! Maybe I'll get lucky next year and join you! And when I do, make sure to save a spot for me during meal times!"

I wanted to chuckle, I wanted to laugh. But I didn't.

 _"If only you knew the truth..."_ I thought to myself. If the video had ended there, it would have been fine. It would have been a message of love and support from my family. After leaving my family behind like that to attend Green Hills, it would have given me the hope and strength I needed. If this was a normal zone, I would have been happy, maybe even a little embarrassed, because I had my family's support to rely on and do even better.

But here now, it was totally different.

I **WASN'T** living an ordinary zone life.

And I had a feeling the video wouldn't end there. I hated that feeling, but... it turned out I was right. Seconds after my family began to wave, the video started getting all staticky as the next frame showed the end result.

And what I saw only hitched my breath more.

My house... no, my ENTIRE bee colony was on fire, and my family was gone. The sounds of flames engulfed the speakers as I swore I could hear screams in the distance. This time, I couldn't even make a sound. My voiced died as I simply watched as the place I called home burned to the ground.

 _"Where... where did everyone go?"_ was my first thought.

And as in if reply, a voice came floating out in the middle of the sounds of fire and cackling. It was no doubt... **HIM**.

 _"Charmy Bee, accepted into Green Hills Zone. And his family, who supported such an average boy..."_ Egg Robo's voice said. _"But it seems like... something happened to this family's well-being and their colony they call home! Oh boy, this is bad! What could have possibly happened to this family, and what happened to this wonderful bee colony?_

The video ended, with one final message, in orange text, that I couldn't get out of my mind. The text was so large, so menacing, that even as I looked up, I swore I could still see it;

 **"LOOK FOR THE ANSWER AFTER GRADUATION!"**

"What is this..." I said, barely holding onto the tablet anymore as I shook heavily. I could feel the fear and anger building up inside of me like hot magma.

"A-Aaah... AAAHH!" I screamed, dropping the tablet as I scooted away from it. I put my hands up to my face, not even wanting to look at it. A single thought was racing through my mind...

"I have to get out of here... I have to get out right now! I need to make sure everyone's safe and... and I need to protect them!"

"Charmy?" a familiar voice said. "Charmy?!"

Cream came running into the room. "Charmy, what happened? Are you okay?! What do you mean you need to protect them?"

Everyone else came into the room, staring at me with their faces full of confusion.

"What's going on?" Amy asked, hands together in fear. Without a word, I pointed to the locker rack with all the tablets.

"Is that what Egg Robo was talking about?" Tails asked.

"What's on them?" Sonic added. Everyone gathered around the lockers as they all looked for the tablets with their names on it. One by one, they clicked on the video app, and it didn't take long for them to react. Shadow was the first one.

"What the fuck...?" he said, clearly freaked out.

"This... this can't be real, right?! This has to be fake!" Amy said, dropping her tablet to the ground.

"Y-Yeah! It has to be false!" Tails said, most likely assuring himself. "Anyone can falsify videos all the time! I've even done it too in the past! So this has to be it!... right?"

"This... this only gets more fucked up!" Jet exclaimed. "Come on! Lemme outta here!"

More and more people looked shocked as they saw their videos. Even I could see layers of fear on the faces of people like Espio and Knuckles. I knew everyone now had seen something like I'd seen. Nobody bothered trying to hide their fear and confusion.

Except for... him.

"So... this is what he meant by motive..." Vector growled, looking up from his tablet. "He wanted to fuel our desire to leave so that we're more likely to start killin' each other."

"Ah yes, the prisoner's dilemma, right?" Blaze asked. "Like two countries on the brink of war, but wanting peace, so they commit to scaling back their forces as a sign of good faith. But there's a chance that one country may betray the other, so each country fears lowering their guard. The result? Neither scales back their forces, and they both end up betraying each other. Do you understand? In other words, the fear of invisible treachery becomes the greatest enemy of stability."

"I didn't get a lot of those big words but... it does sound a bit like us, doesn't it?" Jet replied. "Everyone SAYS they'll work together, but in our hearts, we're all afraid someone might betray us."

"Hey, let's not put those awful thoughts in our head! That's what they want us to do!" Sonic said.

"But what if it's true Sonic? What if-" Tails replied before getting cut off.

"That's enough! This is exactly what Egg Robo wants!" Espio said. "Or... whoever's behind this, but you get my idea! They WANT us to fight. Don't you see?"

"Indeed. That's why we have to calm down," Knuckles added.

"So then, maybe we should start by all just... talking," Rouge said. "If we all talk about what we saw, that'll help get everything out of our systems. Besides, I think we're all super curious, right?"

She did have a point... I did wonder what was in everyone's videos. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious.

"Hey, Cream, what was-"

I cut myself off when I noticed Cream's face. She was pale, and trembling as she looked to the side.

"Cream...? What was in your video?" I asked again.

She continued to be silent, only turning her head away from me more.

"It's alright, rabbit girl, just tell us!" Jet said.

Cream only looked paler as her trembling got worse. I could hear her hyperventilate. At this point, I was VERY concerned.

"Cream?..." I started to reach out towards her, placing my hand on her shoulder.

"...STOP IT!" She screamed as everyone looked in our direction. She then pushed my hand off and ran out of the A/V room.

"Cream?!" Amy said. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"Let it go," Wave replied. "I'm sure she's freaked out by what she saw. It would be for the best to leave her alone."

"I-I can't do that!" I replied, looking at Wave like she was crazy. "I have to make sure she's okay!"

"I mean, not like she's gonna die, right? I'm sure she'll be fine!" Jet said.

"The boss is right! Mine was freaky but I guess I don't blame someone like her for breaking down," Storm said.

"That's cause you're thoughtless!" Rouge scolded.

"I'm worried about Cream..." Big said.

"Then why don't you go do whatever you think you have to do?" Blaze suggested. "We don't all have to stick around together, right? Which reminds me, I have some things to take care of. Goodbye."

Everyone soon went their separate ways as I was left worrying about Cream. Was... was she gonna be okay? The only way I could know is... is if I went and saw her!

But before I did that, I remembered Rouge's advice... maybe it would be for the best I discussed with the other's what was in our videos. I first went to Espio, who had his eyes closed.

"What was in your video, Espio?" I asked, buzzing up to the chameleon. He opened his eyes and looked right at me. He was silent for a few seconds, then finally spoke.

"My family... my dojo... but I'm not upset by what I saw... If you're overpowered, you must accept your death. That is the way our family has learned the concept for generations. But... how could they lose so easily? How...?"

It seemed like he didn't want to say anything more, but I still frowned. Even he saw something about his family. Sure enough, the other's I asked had different stories. Knuckles saw his home collapse into the earth and become completely ruined and uninhabitable, Vector refused to tell me, Big wanted me to tell mine first but was too afraid to listen to what I had to say, Sonic and Tikal didn't want to say either, and Silver continued to believe that the videos were a giant hoax and a lie.

Realizing that everyone was soon starting to go off the wall with the reality of what was going on, I left the A/V room, wondering where Cream went.

"She couldn't have gone too far..." I mused to myself, looking around. "Well, looks like I'll have to check."

Buzzing past Amy, I started from the beginning of the hall and headed to one of the classrooms. Opening the door, I heard the sound of... crying.

That's where I saw her... Cream, with her face pale, and her expression that of abstract horror. She simply sat in the corner of the wall, knees to her body as she rocked herself back and forth.

Looking at her now... it was almost like her original mask had been stripped away.

"Cream?" I asked, buzzing slowly towards her. "Are you okay?"

She slowly looked up at me, then back at her knees. "Yeah... I'm fine... A-Actually..." her voice now sounding higher pitched. "No... how could I possibly be fine? What did we do to end up like this? Why are they doing such terrible things to us?..."

She then began to flail in place. "I want to get out! PLEASE! Let me out of here right now!"

"Cream!" I buzzed towards her, trying to get her to stop. "Please, calm down!"

"How can I, Charmy? How can I?!"

Her flailing got worse, and seeing her have a full-on anxiety attack... it made me depressed to see.

"I understand," I began. "I know how you feel right now. When I think what might have happened to my family... But now more than ever we have to stay calm! This is exactly what they want! They WANT us to lose our composure and stop thinking rationally. Think about it! Those videos HAVE to be fake! Because if those things REALLY happened... people would have been in an uproar! Our families, the police, everyone! Right?"

Cream continued to stay silent, but her thrashing had finally ended at least.

"So let's calm down, okay?" I continued. "Otherwise, we've already lost."

I knew I was trying to convince myself just as much as her. I kept repeating those words to myself, to clear away the images that had been burned into my brain. And especially... that last, final screen...

"As long as we work together, I'm sure we can find some way out of here. And-and help might even come before that!"

"But... what if there ISN'T a way out? What if help NEVER comes?" Cream asked.

"Then... if that happens... then I'll get you out of here myself! No matter what it takes!"

…

When I said that, I paused.

I had no idea what had come over me.

And just then, Cream got up, and hugged me tightly, burying her face in my chest.

"Cream?" I asked, confused.

"Please... help me..." she said, her voice small and shaky. "Why? Why is this happening to me? To kill, or be killed... I just can't take this anymore!"

"Cream..." I said, realizing that the more upset, the more she cried, the more I realize just how fragile her sensibilities were. She raised her face from my chest, and looked at me straight in the eyes, her face full of tears.

"Charmy... Can I... Can I believe what you just said?"

"Huh?"

"That you'll help me get out? No matter what it takes?..."

"Of course!"

"Charmy..."

"Yeah, I know that's my name," I said, trying to lighten the mood. She smiled even just a little bit, though she was still crying. "You're the only one I can trust... so please... no matter what happens, please always be there for me. I need you on my side..."

I felt warm inside... I felt even warm when I took her hand into mine. "Of course I'm on your side. No matter what, I'm always on your side. I mean... didn't you say you're my assistant?"

Cream was silent, then sniffed, wiped her eyes, and looked at me. "Thank you, Charmy. Hearing you say that, it's like... like I can keep going. I can get through this... as long as you're here with me. And I'm sorry for you having to see me so upset... you're right, we'll get through this, cause... I'm your assistant."

The smile I'd come to know so well returned to her face. It felt forced but... it was a huge improvement over how she was before. Just then, I noticed that we were still holding hands.

"O-Oh, sorry, I didn't-" I began before Cream interrupted me.

"It's okay, Charmy. You don't have to be embarrassed."

Both of us blushed at the cute moment we shared, which we would have enjoyed more, had it not been for... HIM.

Egg Robo popped up in front of us, causing Cream to yelp.

"...it's standing up!" he said. "Charmy, it's standing up!"

"WHAT'S standing up?!" I yelled at him.

"Do you even have to ask?! I mean for Gaia's sake, aren't you a teenager?! Teenagers like you get them all the time! It's your flagpole!"

"Oh, get the hell out!" I pushed Cream behind me, my rage towards this... robot only intensifying.

"No no no! I wanna join in!"

"Well I- huh?"

"You heard me! I want in on the fun! Tell me, do you prefer-"

"DON'T FINISH THAT! If you won't leave, at least tell us what the hell is up with those videos!"

"Ahh... it's about to come out... It's gonna come out! My pristine, pure white..."

Then, confetti was suddenly thrown in my face as I realized Egg Robo held a party popper in his hand.

"...confetti!" he said, blowing a party whistle and putting on a hat. "This honest, innocent confetti has finally gushed out!"

Infuriated with what happened, I balled up my first, took aim, and buzzed towards Egg Robo, swinging as hard as I could. I had never put so much energy into a single motion before in my life.

...which explains why I crashed head first into a desk as Egg Robo dodged out of the way.

"Are you okay?!" Cream exclaimed, running up towards me.

"Huff..." Egg Robo sighed. "If I hadn't avoided your punch, you would have just violated zone regulations. But man, for a bee you sure are slow slow SLOW! I could have downed a one thousand ring sub sandwich served by my lovely badniks in the time it took you to finish your swing! Your speed, agility, alertness, passion, boldness, sense of despair, antagonization, not even mention fresh factor, it's all lacking, lacking, lacking!"

Egg Robo soon disappeared, leaving me to realize...

Did he just try and claim I was... well, STIFF... in front of Cream?! What a pervert...

"What the heck was that just now?..." Cream questioned. I groaned in reply.

"He just wanted to mess with us. Don't worry about it."

"Well... for now, do you want to head back?"

"That would be better."

* * *

Egg Robo had come along and swiftly destroyed the good mood we'd just created, so that's why Cream and I returned back to the dorms.

"You should get some rest, Cream. You look shaken," I said.

"I'm sorry for making you worry about me..." she said in reply. "You're right, I'm going to lay down for a bit."

She took off her hat and headed into her room. With that, I knew that I should tell everyone else that Cream was okay. For the most part, some like Tikal, Silver, Amy, and Rouge were relieved, while others like Wave couldn't care less. Once that was done, I decided to head back into my own room. It was hard to think after watching those deranged videos, I needed some rest of my own.

As I took my keys out and unlocked my door, I shut and locked it behind me, dropping my keys to the ground as I sighed.

"Jeez..." I murmured. "Seriously, what's going on here?

So much was going on, I didn't know what was the biggest problem? That we were trapped in here? That what I saw in the video might be real? Egg Robo? What the mastermind has in store for us? Or... are WE our biggest problem?

…

I just knew one thing and one thing only. I want to get out of here. But... I could never kill someone. Do the others all feel the same?

Looking at it, I think that was definitely the biggest problem right now.

All I knew was my tiredness got the better of me, so I buzzed to my bed and lay on it, slowly succumbing to sleepiness...

...if some time later, the doorbell didn't interrupt it.

"Huh?..." I said groggily, getting out of bed and looking at the clock... 9:52 P.M... "Nighttime's about to start... but who's here?"

I crept closer to the door, asking "Who was it?"

"Charmy? It's me, Cream. This is urgent. Can you please open up?" Cream's frail voice asked.

I gasped and quickly opened the door, seeing Cream with her hands around her body.

"Thank you, Charmy... I'm really sorry to come by so late," she said.

"Cream, are you alright? Come on in and sit on my bed, you look ill," I replied. Cream nodded her head and did what I said, my gaze on her filled with sadness. It was then that I realized her body was... trembling.

"I'm sorry to bother you, it was so strange but... but!" she began.

"But what?"

"Okay..." Cream took a deep breath, her hands clamping her sundress. "Do you remember a few days ago, where I mentioned that I heard some noises outside of my door?"

"Y-Yeah! Yeah I do! I was meaning to ask you if you heard it again, but I forgot... I'm sorry..."

"No, no it's fine! Well, just a little while ago, I was laying down in my room and... and I heard those noises again. Only they were louder, and the thing... the thing made my door shake. It was like whoever they were was trying to force the door open. Of course, I locked my door so they couldn't get in. But they only shook the door harder and harder, and twisted the knob so many times. I was so scared that I couldn't even move."

My breathing got more hitched as I looked at the poor girl trembling in front of me.

"So what happened?" I asked. "How were you able to get into the hall?"

"Well, after a while it just stopped. I let some time go by, and then I got up and opened my door. Nothing was out there so... I used this chance to come here."

"Who would do something like that?"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not suspicious of anyone here, but this makes me so nervous... What if something like that happened in the middle of the night? What would I do then?..."

"You don't have to worry about that, right? I mean, you remember the rule Blaze put up, right? No one can go outside during nighttime."

"But that was just a promise we made. Anyone can break that promise."

I was concerned about her... but... I knew I had to protect her, I promised it.

"Then... why don't you stay the night here? I mean, I know the rules say you can only sleep in the dorms, but it doesn't say it has to be YOUR dorm, right?"

"Huh? But... two people sharing one room is..."

"Not that bad. If it means anything for your protection, I don't mind. Even if we do sleep on the same bed."

Cream gasped.

"O-Of course, don't think that I'm gonna do something bad!" I said annoyed. "I said I'm here to protect you, aren't I?"

"I-I mean! It's not that I HATE the idea! B-But... how about we switch rooms? Just for tonight?" Cream asked.

"Switch rooms? Um... can I ask why?"

"Um... I just think that it might be smart, and it could confuse the thing if it comes back."

"Well... if it puts your mind at ease, then It's fine with me."

I won't lie, it seemed like Cream didn't really have a real reason to explain why she wanted to switch rooms but... as long as it made her feel better...

"I mean, I don't mind you staying in my room but... do you care if I stay in yours?" I asked.

"No no, it's fine! I trust you..." Cream giggled, smiling.

"Well, in that case-"

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

I was interrupted by the nighttime bell. Sure enough, the monitor turned on, and Egg Robo's message played.

"Mm, ahem," he began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

"Oh no! It's nighttime already!" Cream said.

"Okay, so it's settled. I'll head to your room right now," I said. "But first, I think we'll need to trade keys."

"Oh, I already knew you were going to say that!"

"A-Again?!"

"Like I said, I'm psychic."

This time, she just... continued staring at me after she said that.

"Uh... hey, aren't you going to say you're kidding this time?" I asked.

"Well, what if I **WASN'T** kidding?" she replied, giggling. Something resembling a smile had made its way to her face. Thank goodness, it looks like she's already started to get back to normal.

And so, we traded keys, and when I looked back up at her again... there was another worried look on her face.

"Charmy... please be careful. If someone comes to the door, don't open it, no matter what," Cream said.

"I won't, don't worry about it. But the same goes to you, Cream. No matter who it is, don't open your door for anyone," I replied.

"Even if I'm sure it's you, I absolutely won't open it. Otherwise, what's the point of even switching?

Just then, I looked at the bathroom door.

"Oh wait, before I forget! My bathroom door tends to get stuck," I said, Cream looking a bit confused. "There's a little trick to opening it. You have to turn the knob, then lift up on the door while you pull it out. Just do that and the door should open up no problem."

"Okay, but the showers don't work during nighttime anyway, right?"

"Oh yeah... Totally forgot about that."

"Well, no worries. Maybe I'll have to use the toilet at some time at the night, or I could just shower in the morning, so thank you."

"Okay, I better get going. See you tomorrow, Cream."

"Oh, and what I said before? When I said I was psychic, it really was a joke. Honestly, I'm just very perceptive."

"Yeah, I know," I smiled. Cream let out a soft giggle.

"Good night, then... See you in the morning."

Cream gave me one last parting smile, and I headed off to 'my' room. After getting out into the hall, I looked around, hoping that thing that was harassing Cream wasn't there. Quickly, I buzzed next door and quickly put the key into keyhole and opened the door, shutting it as quickly as possible. I breathed a sigh of relief as I buzzed into Cream's room. I noticed all of the potted plants by the nightstand. I sniffed some of them, and felt relaxed upon doing so. Other than the plants, her room looked the same, only her bedsheets were pink.

When I buzzed past the trashcan however, I noticed that... there was a tablet sticking out, with her name on it.

"That's...!"

It was the tablet from the AV room...

"That reminds me... I never did get a chance to find out what was in her video."

...but I realized I probably shouldn't be looking at that. It was probably best if I wait until she brings it up again. Either way, I know Cream wouldn't like it if I just snooped around in her room, so I decided to turn in.

Buzzing over to the bed, I laid down gently as I smelled... a pleasant fragrance coming from the bed. It was... Cream's scent...

Heh, I guess I'm sounding like a creep talking about that, huh?

I just hope it'll bring me good dreams for the first time that I've been here...

And so, feeling a little better than before, I fell asleep.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"When you really think about it, Sonic games have their own rules, don't they? You would think that a game that has animals going from point A to point B doesn't have much in the way of rules, but think again! Anyone can beat any ol' Sonic game, but there has to be some incentive to collect all the seven Chaos Emeralds! If there isn't, there's no point, and the big bad isn't defeated by Sonic! Or, how about collecting 100 rings for an extra life? Doesn't that just make you want to collect as many as you can? Therefore, this killing game is like a Sonic game, sure you goof off in the HUB worlds, or goof off in the levels, but goofing off isn't what'll let you advance..."_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

"Good morning, everyone! It's now 7 a.m., and nighttime is officially over! It's time to not only rise and shine, but also to get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!" Egg Robo said, the monitor turning off.

I sat up, still half asleep and rubbed my eyes. Slowly pulling myself out of bed, I realized that the sheets were pink... and I remembered I was in Cream's room.

Of course, that's when I remembered... I had to go eat breakfast! Taking the key, I buzzed out of the room and to the dining hall, where I saw... Rouge.

"Oh, hello darling," she said. "Lovely morning, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." I replied, not sure if I wanted to tell her about what happened to Cream.

"It seems like no one is here yet. Guess I have to have you as my personal entertainment. What do you say, darling?"

Well... I'm sure hanging out with Rouge wouldn't be too bad while we waited for everyone else.

"Sure, I don't mind."

And so, me and Rouge got breakfast together and sat down, slowly chatting as I finished up my plate of microwave pancakes.

As Rouge wiped her mouth, I was gonna reach into my pockets to get her another capsule present, but she stopped me.

"No need to thank me, darling. I already told you I have no need for a present that isn't some kind of jewel. Men everywhere give me presents all the time, thinking that I'll win their hearts if they do that. I even have plenty of lady fans who do the same too, but there's no need. Thank you for the consideration though."

Well... so much for that, still, I had no issue with that.

"Which reminds me, I'm mainly hanging out with you because you were the only one here this early," Rouge said. "Don't think I owe you any kind of favor 'cause I'm nice to you."

"O-Oh! No, no no that's fine! I don't expect anything either," I replied.

"Eh, I guess you have a point. After all, you don't really seem like the type of guy who's very dominant. But then again, people always do have secrets about themselves. Like, I attract so many people, and I've had them be like, 'Hey Rouge, let's hang out!' when it's like, four in the morning. Like, I'm usually stealing a bright ruby at that time, not wasting my time with low lives who think I owe them sex because I was nice to them once."

"Yeah, I know there's plenty of creeps like that. I'm sure even more in your case, cause even if you are a jewel thief, you've made plenty of appearances in the media, and I guess people are attracted to your looks."

"Wow, you actually get it. I didn't expect that out of you... uh..."

"Charmy, it's Charmy."

"Right, Charmy. You know, you don't seem like a bad kid, Charmy. Maybe I could introduce you to some of my thieving friends. You're a bee and small so... maybe I do have some use for you once we get out..."

I couldn't help but notice a... faint smile on Rouge's face as she said that.

Just then, a few people came into the dining hall.

"Oh, it's Charmy and Rouge!" Sonic said. "Man, I got here super late! I just had to sleep in..."

"Thank goodness I got you up this early..." Tails replied.

"Ah... good morning you too..." Tikal said. "I have high hopes for today."

"Mornin' guys! And good mornin' to you, my darling Sonic!" Amy said, hugging Sonic as the hedgehog looked uncomfortable as usual.

"Ah, I suppose I am late too," Espio said. "Well, it's time for my morning tea..."

Knuckles simply looked at us. "Morning," he quietly said.

I smiled, I guess you could say that we were all the model zone students, coming in on time and enjoying the morning. There were of course, some who joined us later on.

"Yo..." Shadow said, coming in as he messed with his quills.

"Good morning everyone..." Big said.

"Heh... heh... barely... made it on time... but... boss... told me not... to be late!" Storm said, out of breath. He must have run here with all of his energy.

And then there were the ones who kept us waiting, people like...

"...suppose I'm late," Vector said.

"Good morning, everyone," Blaze said. "I presume you're fine?"

"Ugh... morning..." Jet said, looking dead. "I'm beat..."

"Whose idea was it to stay up till 1 drinking cola?" Wave replied.

"Well, I didn't oversleep, just so you know!" Silver said. "Nope, got lost!"

As everyone sat down, I realized that... a certain SOMEONE wasn't there...

"Wait a minute... aren't we missing someone?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, Cream isn't here yet. I wonder what happened?" Amy asked.

"Did she forget about our breakfast meetings?..." Big added.

"Has no one seen Cream?" Shadow asked.

"I always got the sense that she always had her stuff together..." Vector said.

Listening to everyone talk, it was drowned out by... silence.

Silence, followed by unease. And I could feel that speck overtake my body.

Little did I know, I was trembling, my mouth wanted to yell, and I was wide eyed. Everyone stopped talking when they noticed me.

"Charmy, is something wrong?" Espio asked.

"I-I need to check on her!" I yelled, getting out of my chair and not listening to everyone yell behind me. I headed to my room, where I let Cream stay the night. Where... she was supposed to be safe. But... over the course of one night... what happened?

I learned my answer when I opened the door.

My room was completely trashed.

"Wh-What is this?!" I yelled, looking around at the room. I didn't know where to begin. I saw the replica machete Cream gave me on the floor, out of its sheath, as well as my room keys. There was also the sheath of the machete, as well as the lint roller I didn't use. There were slashes EVERYWHERE, on the floor, on the bed, and on the walls. The table and the trash can were flipped over, and I just felt more panicked. That's when I saw the bathroom door open.

"Cream, Cream are you there?! It's me, Charmy! Come on out, it's okay!" I said, as I buzzed to the door. "You're... going... to be... fine..."

It took me a minute to register what I saw in my head, and when I did... I... I... I didn't know what to say.

Cream was slouched against the shower wall, with eyes wide open with fear... but worst of all, her throat was sliced, and her blood covered her once beautiful sundress.

"A...A-AAAGH...AAAAAGHHHHHHH!"

It took me a minute to realize that I was screaming.

And then... and then...

Everything went black.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Surviving the Game of Death**

 **DAILY LIFE**

 **D̶̰̭͉̣̜̗͉̭̊̿Aͣ̽̓̓ͯ̚͢҉̛̣̩̖̟̳̟Ī͚̜͈͕͍̞̬ͥͣͅL̳͉̳͎͓̥ͯ̐ͥ͐̈Y̞͙̠ͥ͂̅ͭ̾̎͑̚̕͢ ̸̸̞̼̬͍̣̲ͩ̈͗̏ͣL̸̐͛ͣ̈́̇͏͔͚Į̸͙͎̹͚̮̲̺͍́ͯ́̓ͫ̂F̨̨͉̳̭̼̿̿̍̈́̿ͅE̱̙͍͓̜̓̎̽̅̕**

 **D̠̟͂͐̀̚͟E͖̬̼͙ͥ̒̉A͆ͧ̅ͪͧ͏̠̮͚̭͈͍D̲͓̼̬̣̙̱̮̈͐͟L̴͔̤̗̘͉̘̳̩͛̈́̂̆ͥ̑͒Ỵ͔̩̲̳̋̀ͧͧ̂͋́̃ ̩̜̞͖̤͕͗̓L̛̯̟͇̞̳̉͡I̳̤̱̰͉̦͕̍ͨͬ͝F̸̼͔̹̺̗̟͓̈̃̈́̈́͞E̗̣͎̲̹̰̳ͦͭͣ̾**

 **DEADLY LIFE**


	7. Chapter 1 (Deadly Life)

**(AN: Well, our first murder has arrived, and now we've entered the deadly life portion of this story! This is where the biggest bread and butter comes in, where the murderer has to be found... For Cream's sake, Charmy's sanity, and Egg Robo's love for murder, let's go on right ahead!)**

* * *

 **DEADLY LIFE**

I didn't know how long I screamed, or how long I blacked out. What I did know was that when I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at a familiar ceiling. When I sat up, I saw someone looking at me... someone I'd seen before.

"Ah, you're awake! Finally! Are you okay?" Amy asked me. I looked around to see everyone else surrounding me. Some of them looked concerned, other's looked... well, the same as they usually did.

"Now's not the time for sleeping, kid! Get your ass up!" Shadow scolded me.

"Huh? Sleeping?" I asked.

"You were unconscious, dude!" Silver said. "I had to use my ESP powers to bring you back here."

"It's no surprise, considering what has happened," Espio added.

"What... happen-"

I cut myself off, because I got flashbacks... the blood... the sliced throat... the scared eyes... the body of Cream against my shower stall. I panicked again, getting up.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked again.

"So... it wasn't a dream... What I saw... it was real?" I asked.

"That's right. It did just happen," Wave said. "It seems the worst has arrived: Cream the Rabbit... is dead."

I just froze...

A deep, dark despair worked its way through my body and then exploded out of me. I didn't know what I was thinking, I just... buzzed to the door.

"And where are you going?!" I heard Wave yell.

"I have to see for myself!" I yelled back, fumbling to get the door open. "I have to see if Cream is... if Cream is...!"

"Give up! You can check once, twice, or five million times, but you'll soon have to face the truth: Cream is 100% dead!"

"N-No! I have to check for myself!"

"Listen to the girl, kid!" Shadow said. "What do you think is going to happen if you just go on out there by yourself?! Cream is dead, end of the story!"

"What good is it just sitting here?! Why are we all hanging out at the gym?! Our friend is... is dead!"

Dead...

When I said that, it finally hit me.

I realized she was completely gone.

I buzzed back to the group, Vector lowering his head. "Calm yerself, Charmy," he said. "None of us wanna be here right now, either."

"But why?..." I asked.

"Well, gee, who else could have called us over here except a certain annoying egg piece of shit?" Jet said.

"I-I mean, don't talk like that! We all protested it!" Sonic said. "We... remember the terrible price Cream had to pay. B-But..."

He looked at the ground, concern on his face.

"I'm the one who convinced them to come. Right now, we gotta do what he says," Vector replied. "We're Egg Robo's prisoners, right? It's not a good idea to defy him without reason. We dun need to make any more sacrifices than we already have..."

"But why should we listen to anything he has to say?!" I questioned. "After all, I bet he killed Cream!"

Just then, Egg Robo popped in.

"Wrong!" he said. "I would never do that! If you can believe anything, you can believe that!"

"He's here again..." Tails said, eyes lowering.

"Unless someone violates a zone regulation, I will not interfere at ALL! I can promise you, I won't do anything that goes against the purpose of your zone life here. If I can hold the yearly EX World Grand Prix each year, who's to say I never follow rules?"

"You don't host that..." Jet muttered.

"Oh, I do! You just don't know about the behind the scenes!"

"But that's beside the point... who killed Cream?" Tikal questioned.

"You already know the answer! The one who killed her was... one of you!"

Nobody had a reply for that. We just looked at each other in suspicion.

One of us... killed Cream?

"Jeez, what's up? You guys look like you're about to see someone shoot a Pocky for a graphic viral video! Don't you remember what I told you when this all began? One of you decided to kill Cream so that you could graduate! Someone's following the rules, right? Then there's nothing wrong with that!" Egg Robo said.

"Are you lying Mr. Egg Robo, sir?" Big asked.

"Wow, it's Mr. AND Sir? You're very respectful, Big!"

"Shut up! He is lying, Big! I'm telling you, Egg Robo killed Cream!" I yelled.

"Nope, sorry, you used that chance to blame me already! Wait another 24 hours to get your chance to blame me again or pay 9 rings to recharge your energy meter for the ability to blame me again. Nope nope nope! One of you is now a bona fide killer! Now, IF they wanted to, the one who did it could testify to that little fact.

"Huh?"

Without thinking, I looked around at everyone. They all continued to have the same look on their faces: the look of fear, suspicion, and confusion.

"Are you serious?..." Tikal asked. "One of us... is a murderer?..."

"Someone... really did kill someone!" Sonic exclaimed.

"How... how awful!" Tails moaned.

"It's amazing what some people are capable of and how far they go with it," Blaze said.

"Hey, hold on! Don't assume he's telling the truth!" Shadow said, pointing at Egg Robo. Wave cut him off though.

"That's enough. Before we do anything else though... I want to confirm something here with tomorrow's breakfast omelet," Wave said.

"Wow, a threat about me being an omelet? Never heard that one before!" Egg Robo said, Wave ignoring his joke.

"If one of us really DID kill her, that person gets to graduate from this zone, correct?"

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb you bastard! You said that! Anyone who kills gets to leave! Am I wrong?"

"Yeah! I remember that!" Storm exclaimed. "So, whoever kills should be leaving now, right?"

Egg Robo was silent for a few seconds, and then...

"Ho ho ho ho... Ho ho ho ho! HO HO HO HO HO!" he laughed.

"W-What's so funny?" Tails asked.

"Ho ho... oh... you all CRACK me up! Naïve... you're ALL so naïve! Did you REALLY think it would be that easy?! Did you really think that you could just kill someone, and then I'd just give you your pass outta here and tell you, 'So long and thanks for all the fish'? Naïve! Devilishly naïve! HELLISHLY NAÏVE! No no no, the REAL thing has just begun!"

"The... real thing?" I questioned.

"Are you ready? I'm now ready to talk about the SECOND part of the graduation rule! As I explained, you must kill someone if you want to leave. However,... even if you do that, there's still one more part of the agreement you have to uphold, remember?"

"Ah... you mean rule six of the zone regulations, correct?" Blaze replied. "If you are the "blackened" that committed the murder, you can't be found out by the other students. That's what you're talking about?"

"Bingo! It's not enough to just kill someone, you have to actually get away with it! This means that you need a system in place to assess whether or not it's been gotten away with! So, after a certain amount of time following a murder, a class trial will begin!"

Class... trial?

"Yup! It'll begin a few hours after the murder! Don't worry, I can tell you're all confused, I can see it on your faces! So, I'll explain! Everyone will gather together, including the blackened who committed the murder, and they and the spotless students will all engage in one big debate showdown! During the trial, you'll have to present your arguments about who you think the blackened is. And once everything comes to an end, the outcome will be decided by popular vote! If the answer you've arrived at is correct... only the blackened will be punished. Everyone else will continue their communal life. But if you're wrong... then the one who got away with murder will survive, and the rest of you will receive your punishment! Which of course means your zone life will come to an end! As for as class trial rules go... that's all there is!"

Big tilted his head. "Uh... so what's our punishment if we fail?"

"Oh well to put it simply... it's execution!"

This put everyone into a panic. Everyone began talking, began panicking, began stepping away from Egg Robo.

"Execution?!" Big yelled.

"And by execution?..." Tikal cried. Egg Robo zoomed right to her face, the echidna only whimpered, bit her lip, and shut her eyes as Egg Robo's red eye glowed brighter.

"Execution is... execution! See, I'll even pronounce it now! Ex-e-cution! Electric chair, bzzt bzzt! Poison gas, cough cough! Torn apart like a paper plane in a hurricane! Volcanoes, tornadoes, thunderstorms, ice storms, car accidents, earthquakes, any kind of disaster, any kind of method, heck, anything you could KILL with, it's all possible once you get punished!" he said.

"S-So... lemme just make it sure... we get the culprit right, they die... If we get it wrong... everyone else dies?" questioned Sonic.

"What a smart hedgehog you are! Look at you, implying you didn't do it without actually saying it! I would give you a celebratory chili dog, but the one I have in my pocket is 9 years old! Do you still want it?"

Sonic only shook his head.

"So it's basically what the outside world calls a 'lay judge' system, or an inquisition type of thing! Which means you'll be deciding who you think the killer is. But judge carefully, because all of your lives are on the line! Just give me a minute to add the rule I just described to your PAD. Make sure to keep it in mind!"

"Wait! Hold on one minute!" Rouge yelled out, stomping in front of Egg Robo. "You are freaking insane, you know that?!"

"Huh?"

"A class trial? Like, what the hell is that?! I don't want anything to do with it!"

"And why not?"

"What do you mean why not?! I had no reason to commit murder, so why should I have to waste my time trying to figure out who murdered who, and with my life being on the line... it's almost like there's no point to this silly thing! So that's why I say, fuck you! You're not dictating me!"

"What?! Are you saying you don't WANT to participate in the trial?! You know... it's 100% mandatory... only punishment awaits you if you don't do it!

"What? Punishment?"

"I might... oh I dunno, throw you in a deep dark scary prison or something! Then maybe your knight in shining armor will come! Or maybe not! Ho ho ho!"

"Oh shut the hell up! Say whatever you want, I'm NOT being apart of this foolish thing! All I know is that if we're getting out of here, we're killing you cause we'll be good to go once you're gone!"

"Don't be so selfish!"

"Selfish?! SELFISH?! Kill whoever you want, I bet you KNOW who the true murderer is, but it has NOTHING to do with me!"

"The evil queen standing before me... will Egg Robo use his mighty magic sword to defeat the queen and rescue the princess?... Of course I will! I don't give in to evil! It's my style to stick it out and resist till the very end! If you really wanna get out of here, you'll have to go through me first!"

Rouge simply scoffed as she turned the other way, flapping her wings as she prepared to fly. Then, Egg Robo appeared in front of her.

"And where do you think you're going, missy?" he asked.

Rouge stopped herself, and slammed her foot on Egg Robo's body.

"Augh!" he yelped, flailing his arms.

"Are you done now?! Are you enjoying your little game? Did you finally get it out of your system?!" Rouge taunted. All of us could only watch as the scene unfolded in front of us.

Egg Robo was silent for a second before speaking again. "Did YOU?..."

"Huh?..." Rouge was confused, and so was I, until... I remembered...

"Violence against Headmaster Egg Robo violates Rule 5 of the Green Hills Zone regulations! Therefore, you shall now be punished for breaking such a rule! Come to me, lovely spikes of Mystic Cave Zone!"

Egg Robo pushed Rouge onto the ground violently, causing her to collapse to the ground. Before she could get up...

The sound of the floor opening something up was heard.

And a pair of high, deadly, and sharp spikes impaled all through Rouge's body, the sound of crunching bones and flesh impaled through the spikes being heard as some of the girls screamed. We all took a few steps back as we saw the scene before us.

Blood poured out onto the floor at an intense rate as Rouge's body simply twitched. Somehow... she was alive.

"Wh...? Huh?..." she sputtered out. "This... wasn't supposed to... Why... me?..."

I could see her eyes open wide, and then... the spikes came down...

All that was left was a heavily bleeding corpse filled with holes.

"AGHH! ROUGEEEE!" Amy screamed, putting her hands over her mouth.

"I-I don't..." was all Tikal could mutter through gross sobs.

"WHY... WHY HER?!" Tails cried.

"This... this can't be fucking real..." Jet said, collapsing to the ground.

"How monstrous..." Knuckles muttered.

Everyone else was now talking. I could hear Espio wanting to curse Egg Robo, Storm not wanting to look, Sonic telling Tails to look away, amongst the sea of conversations going on. The egg robot looked at us, his eye glowing even redder as we all shut up. He pointed his arm at us, now turned into a gun of some kind.

"Now... I AM painfully aware of the great power and meaning of a promise..." he said with anger in his voice. "I REALLY wanted to keep a corpse from popping up for no good reason, you know? But... it seems you all need to be taught a lesson, after all. I'm sure after this first-time rule break, we won't experience any kind of bad behavior, now would we? But now you guys understand, right?"

Just like that... Rouge was killed like that... To think we had our conversation this morning...

Then, Egg Robo's eye glowed the brightest we ever saw it glow. I heard Silver hiss as we all covered our eyes.

"Now... you see just how serious I am..." he said. "Defy me, and you'll get shot full of holes, caught in an explosion, buried alive, hit with wrecking balls, you get the idea! So... I'm sure you don't want this to happen to you, well, you know just what to do!"

 _"Was Cream not enough you son of a bitch?!"_ I thought. At this point, Rouge's blood began to flow closer and closer to us. I... I just...

I realized that this was the first time I'd seen someone's life come to an end in front of my eyes. Nobody could deny it... A few minutes ago, our friend Rouge was alive and well... and now she was reduced to a corpse.

"You know guys, it's not REALLY all that shocking!" Egg Robo said, seeing the panic and fear in our faces. "I mean, don't you all watch movies or play video games where people die all the time? They're shot with guns, blown up, et cetera, and you guys don't seem to mind that! She just died, that's all. Just went and died! It's no more remarkable then the eventual death of Mobians. It's just as natural as the eventual end of the world itself too! This isn't some kind of fictional story where they have a fakeout death or any kind of media where they don't REALLY die. This... is reality!"

Egg Robo only laughed his sadistic laugh. Vector walked forward.

"Why did ya have to kill her? Weren't yeh just sayin' yeh'd put her in a prison or somethin'?" he asked.

"I changed my mind," Egg Robo turned around, not facing us.

"No, yeh've been wantin' to kill this whole time..."

"Kill this entire time? Don't be silly! You can't kill time! Or are you being metaphorical? Are you saying I wanted to waste time this whole time? Time time time! Come on! What do you take me for? I'm Egg Robo! Anyway, none of that matters now! I have something I'd like to give you to help you in your search for the blackened!"

Egg Robo dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a slim looking tablet.

"Ta da! This little file has all the information I've gathered about the death in question! I like to call it... the EggPad!" he said, quickly handing us all one. "I mean, naturally except for Vector maybe, you guys aren't experts at this kind of thing, so you can only do so much with a corpse! So, I've gathered up everything I know about the circumstances and cause of death. What's that? How do I know the cause of death you ask? Well, I saw it on the surveillance cameras! Looks like that thief was right when I said that!"

"If ya know who killed Cream, why not punish them now?!" Vector questioned.

"Well, if I DIDN'T, then I couldn't pass a fair and accurate judgement during the trial, now could I?"

Vector sighed. "I guess that's a good point. The judge has to be able to make the upper decision. That's... comfortin' I guess."

"Now then, please put your full effort behind your investigation! After all, you don't have any choice but to give it your best shot! And I mean it! You DON'T have a choice! Okay! Let's give or take... hm... an hour or two, if I'm feeling generous, and we'll meet up for the class trial!"

Egg Robo vanished, leaving us all awestruck at the events that just occurred in front of our eyes. He left us at a total loss, and left us with Rouge's dead body only growing colder and colder.

And for who knows how long, nobody said a word.

The fact that Cream and Rouge were dead was a huge shock of course. But there was more to it than that...

It was also the idea that one of us had actually murdered someone... and that if we didn't find out who it was, we would all die here. We found ourselves in a situation where we couldn't help but look at each other with open suspicion. It was the worst situation imaginable... and yet...

He didn't show the slightest hint that it had gotten to him.

Vector walked in the middle of our little circle. "Now's not the time to wallow in your depression," he said. "The worst thing we can do right now is lose all faith in each other. That would lead to the same disastrous result as having total faith in everyone else."

"What do you mean?" questioned Tails. "Like, we have to work together, but not trust one another?"

"Cooperation is key at this point. Who yeh decide to trust or not trust is, of course, up to ya."

"Well, continuing to think and talk about the dead isn't going to help anything," Blaze said.

"But... but saying stuff like that is just... awful!" Amy scolded. "Two friends are dead!"

"How many times have I told you, shopper girl? Anyone who can't adapt will die. Death is the only thing that awaits people unwilling to adapt. If that happens, you only have yourself to blame."

"Even then... couldn't we at least respect the dead?!"

"Look, right now, exposin' the killer is the most important thing," Vector interrupted. "If we don't, we're all gonna die here. And I ain't gonna fall to despair."

"He has a point. We need to begin our search right away," Wave said. "Heck, I might even have some fun figuring out these EggPads... they look nothing like any kind of thing I'm used to."

"Either way..." Espio began. "We can't run away from the situation, so we have no choice but to move forward."

"We hafta do it, I guess... what other choice do we have?" Amy said.

"Yeah! No way am I gonna die, or the rest of you too!" Tails added. "That's why we're gonna investigate this seriously!"

"Good idea, Tails! We just have to do it! We just have to do it!" Sonic told himself again and again.

"Okay, okay, hedgehog!" Jet said. "We get it! This killer is gonna go down no matter what!"

"You said it right, boss!" Storm replied.

We just have to do it...

We all repeated that sentence in our minds. It was like a mantra to give ourselves strength. No matter how much we don't want to, we have no choice! If this is what it takes to survive, that's what we have to do!

On top of that, there was something I needed to find out... I had to know why Cream had to die. Why she had to be the one... I'm terrified to find out, but still... I have to know. Otherwise, I knew I'd never be able to accept her death. Which is why... I don't have any choice! I have to do this! I have to find her killer!

But first things first...

I buzzed closer to Rouge's body, the poor bat in the same position she kept the whole time. I saw all the holes in her body, and I felt itchy just looking at them. I gently placed my hand on her body, hoping there may be SOME kind of pulse like I'd see in movies, but...

Nothing.

"She really is dead..." I said. There wasn't anything else to say, she was gone...

"I don't know why you bothered to check, shorty. After those injuries and blood loss, I'd be shocked if she survived," Wave said to me.

"Huh?..." Silver asked, timidly. "Hold on... H-H-H-Hold o-on! J-J-Just wait a second! S-She's REALLY dead?! Then that means...?! This means EVERYTHING that's happened so far is real?! It's not a joke or anything?! It's really super-duper 100% real?!" He then placed his hands over his ears. "NOOOOO! Someone save me! Let me outta here!" SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Everyone was now looking over at the screaming Silver.

"You're just now accepting that, hedgehog?" Jet asked. "Eh, it can't be helped. I guess we can say you're a late bloomer."

"Well, if we're not too busy with a screamin' Silver, I think we need to think of an idea 'bout what we should do with the crime scene," Vector said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're thinking of putting someone on guard duty so nobody can disturb the area, correct? If so, nice thinking, croc," Wave replied. "After all, if the culprit decides to destroy the evidence, we're pretty much screwed."

"I don't mind doing it..." Big said. "I'm not a good thinker..."

"Okay, then we can let Big look after the scene," Amy said.

"Not yet, we can't just leave him there alone," Wave added.

"And why not?"

"Isn't it obvious? If you were the culprit and had access to the crime scene with no one around, what would be the first thing you do? Change the scene that you were supposed to be guarding, that's what."

"Oh... okay, I guess that makes more sense now. But I mean, Big is a sweetheart..."

"Sweetheart or not, it's for good measures."

"Fine, then I shall volunteer too," Knuckles said, standing next to Big with his arms crossed. "We won't be able to investigate, so our faith is in your hands."

"Uh... Knuckles? Is this your first time speaking this much?" I asked. The echidna looked away.

"We're in grave danger, aren't we? I may not have good social skills, but I can still have faith in you."

"I'm a little freaked out but... I'll try," Tikal said.

As there was more talking between everyone, different subjects thrown left and right about the murderer or what to do, Blaze's little cough interrupted us all.

"Attention everyone, I have an announcement to make," she said. "I was just looking through the EggPad when I noticed a very unusual and... interesting line."

"What is it?" Tikal asked.

"It's about the murder and where it took place. Take a good look at where the location was. She died... in Charmy's room."

Everyone quickly got out their PAD's and looked at what was on it. Amy was the first to speak up.

"Wh-? She's right!"

"Could it be?..." Big questioned.

One by one, everyone began looking at me. Some of them like Tikal and Silver looked frightened, while others like Shadow, Sonic, Tails, and Jet looked angry.

"H-Hold on a second! You've got it all wrong!" I yelled, shaking my head. "Let me explain myself! I traded rooms with her last night! I did it because she asked me to! Because she was afraid!"

"You expect us to believe that? Tch, what a fucking lie!" Jet said. "I mean come on, better you confess now then let us all die!"

"You monster!" Tails scolded.

"That's right! And when this investigation is over, you'll be just the one who's punished!" Sonic added, pointing right at me. The looks in everyone's eyes had done a complete 180 from just a few minutes ago. The feeling of suspicion and fear had returned. In other words...

They think I did it...

"Are we all done talkin'?" Vector asked. "We need to begin our investigation soon. At this point, we need to split up. We need to get to the bottom of this and find out who killed Cream. We'll have to collect clues to form a foundation, then construct an argument to come to a final decision. If we get this wrong... well, do I need to say anythin' else?"

"I rather you didn't..." Big said, depressed.

"Everyone, pray fer good luck. And Charmy? I ain't gonna take yer word for it until I've examined the crime scene and all the clues I've got. Then, and only then, will I make my decision on whether to trust ya or not."

With that, Vector hurried out of the gym. I didn't know if by what he meant was in my favor or not, and maybe it was best I didn't know...

"Well, Jet? Storm? I presume we should begin our investigation too. Who knows? Maybe the bee did do it, maybe not, but I'd rather not like to die," Wave said as her two friends followed behind her. Jet shot me another nasty glare as they left.

"Right, then Big? Shall we go to guard the scene?" Knuckles said.

"Oh yeah... let's go, Mr. Knuckles the Echidna," the cat replied. The two left as Shadow adjusted his coat.

"I'll do my own investigation, but I'll stay close to the scene as a protective measure. Now, I just want to let you know... if whatever son of a bitch did this is here right now, and they think that they can destroy some evidence... I swear to Gaia that I'll skip the trial and cave their goddamn skull in!" he then cracked his knuckles. "I mean it too, I WILL fuck them up!"

As he left, Sonic simply sighed. "Man, what's his problem?"

"Probably thinks cussing every sentence makes him look cool," Tails replied. "Still, we should all start investigating."

"But... I mean, we're not detectives like Vector. We're supposed to investigate a murder?" Amy asked. "How do we even do something like that?"

"Well, we don't really have to do anything! We already know who killed Cream!" Sonic said.

"What are you implying?" I asked.

"That it was you! Duh!"

"I'm telling you it wasn't me!"

"Blah blah blah! I'm not listening!"

"Well, you sure are quick to pin it on me. What does that say about you?"

"If you're actually trying to pin this on me, don't even try it, bucko! I wouldn't even think about it, and not to mention, I WASN'T the one close to Cream, now was I?"

"But... it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot, my Darling Sonic!" Amy said, stepping in front of me. "Like Vector said, it's not 100% confirmed yet that Charmy's guilty."

"That's true... We may have to at least check just to check," Espio said.

Others began leaving as I called out, "Wait! Don't go yet! You have to hear me out!"

But it was pointless, everyone sans for two others left. Silver was continuing to freak out in the corner, while Tikal seemingly prayed over Rouge's body.

The parting looks of everyone had been filled with suspicion. Does everything really think I'm the killer? And how did it turn out like this?

They have it all wrong...

"And why do they have to suspect me?!" I said aloud.

I have to do something... otherwise... everyone will die from a false vote at the class trial...

I can't let that happen... I can't let Egg Robo get his way! All I have to do is find out who did it... who killed Cream!

 **INVESTIGATION**

 **BEGIN!**


	8. Chapter 1 (Investigation)

**(AN: Well, I was able to get this done quickly! Don't worry, Chapter 1 is gonna be wrapping up soon! All we have to find out now who the killer might be through this investigation and the eventual class trial... if only Cream and Rouge were still around... Speaking of them, here's a word from our sponsor.)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo walked into an empty white space, laying on his side with his hand on his head._

 _"_ _Alright you buncha morons, here's a recap at what happened in the last two parts. So as you know, I gave all my sweet little students a motive to kill, and sure enough, lucky Cream is the first one to go! And then I had to deal with a naughty, naughty bat, so she's dead too! And now all my students have to find out who killed Cream so they don't all get offed! Ah, the carefree days of mutual killing and siesta time despair..."_

 _He then yawned._

 _"_ _By the way, could I be serious for a moment? What are your thoughts on popular diets these days? Personally, I feel like I'm at my slimmest whenever I run, which is what I do when annoying hedgehogs chase after me. This is why I strongly endorse the world domination diet! You should give it a try the next time you have weapons of mass destruction."_

 _Finally, he messed with his moustache as he didn't move from his position. "Hmm... now that I think about it, weren't Cream and Rouge the Ultimate Gardener and Ultimate Jewel Thief respectively? When you look at how slim they were... y'know, I bet both of them were into diets."_

* * *

I took a deep breath, and knew the first thing I had to do was relax.

"I guess I should look through the EggPad we got," I told myself. I took it out, opened it up and began to read.

 _"_ _The victim was Cream the Rabbit. The time of death is around 1:30 a.m. The body was discovered in Charmy's room, in the dorms. All evidence suggests that the death took place in the bathroom. The cause of death was a slit throat from a knife. There was also an injury to her right wrist. Specifically, the wrist appears to have suffered a fracture."_

 _"_ _It looks like from that, we have no choice but to push forward if we want to find out what happened..."_ I thought to myself. I knew I had to find out the truth, so we could all survive...

"And for Cream... I have to find out why she was killed!" I said, puffing my chest.

But before I left, I decided to talk to the last two remaining people in the gym.

"Silver?" I asked, buzzing up to him.

"Ugh! No way! I SERIOUSLY don't wanna die here! I'm begging you!" Silver yelled, clapping his hands together and raising them up to the sky. "Gaia, Chaos, Solaris, great and powerful Enerjak! HELP MEEEE! I don't care who it is, just get me outta here!"

I simply stared at him blankly. It looks like Silver isn't prepared at ALL to do any kind of investigating right now...

Next, I went over to Tikal, who had just gotten up from praying over Rouge's body.

"Aren't you going to help investigate, Tikal?" I asked, buzzing towards her.

"Oh, Charmy... I apologize, I just needed a moment..." she said solemnly. "Poor Rouge... her life taken from her like this... I pray that the gods lay her soul to rest. Besides... I am not one for investigating murders... you know how I feel about that."

She did have a point...

"Leave Rouge to me. I will be fine. In the meantime, please be careful," she continued.

"Actually... Tikal, do you think I did it?" I asked. She was silent for a minute before speaking up.

"I'm not the one for making judgements. I believe everyone is innocent unless proven guilty. Besides, I feel it isn't like you to murder. You have a kind soul in you, I can tell."

I did smile when she said that. At least someone believes me...

Saying goodbye, I left the gym, and decided to head to the crime scene; my room. Upon arriving, I saw Big and Knuckles standing in my room, watching if anyone tried to alter the crime scene. I knew I had to examine the state of my room, as it might reveal something new...

The first thing I noticed was the lint roller that was in my room. Oddly enough... it looks like there was less to the roll than there was before. Which is odd because... I've never used it. Maybe Cream used it or something?

Next up was the machete. Seeing that the sheath was removed... could it be that this was used in the attack? This would explain the marks everywhere. Interestingly enough, I saw that some of the gold coating that was on some of the blade and handle had come completely off. The handle especially was missing a lot of its coating, which is funny because the coating sticks to you even if you touch it a little bit.

Just then, Egg Robo popped up.

"Charmy Bee! I need to inform you of something!" he said. I was taken aback, and so were Big and Knuckles.

"What do you want, Egg Robo?" Knuckles questioned, fists raised up.

"Yeah! I bet you're gonna confuse us again..." Big added.

"No no no!" the egg robot said. "I'm here to tell Charmy some important information! You see, since this story isn't visual at all, you'll need something to remember all the clues you get. There isn't going to be some graphic of the clue popping up and a message telling you that you got the clue in question after all! It's like what, is this world a video game or something? No no, so that's why I'm giving you this!"

Egg Robo handed me a chip and... a tablet pen?

"This chip will allow you to use the notepad feature of your regular PAD! Just write down your clues when you find them with this tablet pen, and there you go! It's like you're becoming a detective more and more as the minutes tick by. Well, see ya!"

He then disappeared.

"How weird..." Knuckles commented.

Regardless, I did what he said. I put the chip into a slot on the back of my PAD, and sure enough, there was a new selection on my PAD: the Notepad. Opening it up, I took the tablet pen and wrote down "Clue 1: Replica Machete".

I also saw my key on the ground, in the same position where it was when I first discovered Cream's body. If I remember correctly... Cream told us we had to trade keys. This meant that Cream had to have it here the whole time.

"But wait... if that's true... how did the killer get in?" I questioned. "Could she have forgotten to lock the door?... nah, that's impossible. She told me that she wouldn't open the door for anyone. There's no way she could have left it unlocked or opened it for someone. There IS a chance she dropped the key somewhere, and someone grabbed it or something. Augh... that's not possible... She was in here when we switched rooms. And with how scared she was, she wouldn't have gone walking around, so there's no way she could have dropped it."

I was only going in circles in this point. My only thought was...

How did the killer get in?...

With that, I wrote down Clue 2: The switching of the rooms.

My next spot was the drawer. I opened it up to see that the toolkit was perfectly fine and that it was still in its shrink wrap.

"It makes sense," I said, assuring myself. "It's mine, and I don't have any reason to open it. Heck, I can't even imagine a situation where I'd need to use a toolkit like this."

"It's funny you bring that up..." Knuckles said, walking up towards me.

"Huh?! Oh, Knuckles.." I said, off guard.

"I haven't opened up my toolkit, nor have any of the boys said they've done the same, as far as I know. We were discussing this yesterday if I must mention..."

I nodded. With that, Clue 3 was written down: the toolkit.

Next, I buzzed to the middle of the room where I found the sheath of the machete lying in the middle of the ground. With the sheath being taken out, and the slices everywhere, it's only clear that this was-

"Huh?!"

I stopped my thoughts when I noticed scratches on the sheath, as if there were made with something sharp. My question was... how did the sheath get scratched up in the first place? Even if someone used the machete during the struggle, it doesn't make sense for the sheath to be damaged... Like, if you wanted to attack someone with a machete, wouldn't it make sense to unsheathe it? Something heavy like this would only get in the way and slide off in the middle of the fight.

Still wondering why there was scratching, I wrote down Clue 4: the replica machete sheath.

Next, I decided to look at the scratches and gouges on the wall. With how things looked, this had to be definitive proof that a struggle happened here, almost as if there was a fight here.

"Damn it! I was in the other room too... if only this soundproof room crap didn't happen..." I said.

"I know how you feel... it's almost like this was another one of Egg Robo's strategies for setting up a murder," Knuckles said. "I feel ashamed... I could have protected her from our unknown killer."

I simply frowned as I wrote down Clue 5: Evidence of a struggle.

But before I DID go on to investigate more...

"Knuckles?" I asked. "Do you think I'm guilty too?"

"I don't blindly accuse someone unless there's proof. Too many times have I been characterized as someone who's hotheaded and doesn't think twice about anything. I have a mind of my own too," he said. "Whatever decision all of you come up with, I will follow your lead."

"I see..."

I hoped that was for the good.

I then buzzed up to Big.

"Big, you didn't think I did it, right?" I asked.

"I think you're a nice person, Charmy. You really liked Cream... I don't see you as a bad person..." he said.

"Well... that's good. Did you find anything new?"

"I'm sorry... I didn't... I've just been guarding this place the whole time... I sure do hope we can find out who killed Ms. Cream the Rabibit..."

"Yeah... I hope so too."

After my short conversation with Big was done, I realized I must have been really distracted by the current events, as there was a new person in the room. I buzzed up to Vector, whom I hadn't even noticed entering. He had his back turned against me and was crouched on the floor.[1]

"Hey, Vector?" I asked. "What are you doing?..."

"Ain't it obvious?" he replied.

"Heh heh... not really."

"I'm searchin'."

"Searching? For what?"

I noticed that he was carefully inspecting everything in my room.

"Erm... Did you lose a contact or something?" I asked.

"I dun even wear those..." he replied.

Either way, I didn't know what he was doing but... it seemed like he was concentrating pretty hard on it. But a few seconds later, he suddenly got up.

"Are yeh a neat freak?" he asked.

"N-No! Not really..." I replied, shaking my head.

"How odd..." Vector glanced around my room. "Interestin'..."

"What's interesting?"

"It's weird how a bee who doesn't have fur or isn't a neat freak would have a used lint roller in his room."

"Is that what's weird?"

"Yeah, there's not a single strand of fur anywhere. If there was a sign of a struggle, a majority of the people here would shed at least some fur or a quill or anythin'. There ain't even anythin' from the victim too. It appears someone used yer lint roller without yer knowledge, and this... this is proof that someone other than yeh came in and scrubbed yer room clean."

"Was it Cream? Or the killer?

"That's the question, ain't it? I suggest ya write that down."

I simply nodded my head and logged in Clue 6: The sudden cleanliness of my room.

"I do wanna confirm more about this thing, but I suggest ya check out the actual scene of the murder first. Ya should find some interestin' stuff there."

My eyes widened.

Did... did I have to see how Cream looked like... again?!

"D-Do I have to?..." I asked, shaking while pointing at the bathroom.

Vector only closed his eyes. "Unfortunately, if ya wanna solve this mystery, ya got no choice. It's hard, I know. But... sometimes, there's no option."

I gulped as I buzzed in front of the door. The flashback of Cream's body came back to haunt me.

 _"_ _N-No! I can't let it get to me!"_ I thought. _"I can't freeze up now!"_

Forcing myself to push my panic down, I slowly buzzed into the bathroom.

That's where I saw her again... Cream, in the same pose, with the same look on her face, and the same blood running down her neck and onto her once pretty sundress. Looking at her made it painfully clear this wasn't a dream or an illusion. She lost everything that made her... her.

Cream...

All of a sudden, I was overcome with dizziness, nausea, and the urge to cry. Having to see her again like this... it made me horrified and sick.

But I couldn't... hesitate now.

Why did Cream have to die?

I had to uncover the truth... and find out what happened!

I wanted to collapse, to give up, but I knew... Cream would want me to solve this for her...

The first thing I did was buzz up close to Cream's body. I pulled up the EggPad to confirm the situation with the body.

"A sharp object was used to slit her throat. That must have been the killing blow. But whatever they used to kill her... Where'd they get it?" I asked myself. "That's definitely something I should look into later. Also, according to the EggPad, Cream's right wrist is broken."

I picked up her wrist gently, noting that it did look swollen and bloody. But... there was something glittery near the wound on her wrist.

"That definitely concerns me."

Another thing that did concern me was... blood on her left index finger. The palms of both her hands are completely spotless. So why her left finger?...

With that, I took out my regular PAD and wrote down Clue 7: Cream's wrist.

"If the slit throat is what killed her, she must have broke her wrist early on then. I mean, how would her wrist get broken after getting killed? So, it's very possible she broke her wrist during the struggle. The killer attacked Cream in the main room, which is when her wrist got broken. After that, the killer cornered her in the bathroom, where they inflicting the finishing blow on her," I muttered to myself. It made a lot of sense when I looked at it in that way.

That would have been the end of everything, and I thought since the scene had no more clues, I would leave.

But... then I just noticed... THAT in the corner of my eye.

"Huh?..."

Behind Cream's body was writing on the wall. Written in blood was the word "HPM" with the P reversed. Now I was only more confused... did Cream do this?

With nothing more to examine, I headed out of the bathroom... where Vector stopped me.

"It seems ya found it, right Charmy?" he asked. "The bloody words... it was probably Cream's dying message."

"I've never seen something written in blood before. It's... a lil spooky," I replied. "It really was her final message, almost as if she wrote it with life itself."

Vector only looked at me oddly. "...do ya usually talk like yer the kid hero in a cartoon or somethin'?"

"That's besides the point! The letters she wrote, what do they mean? HPM, what does it mean?"

"The way she wrote the letters makes me think she wanted to use her body to block 'em. If she wrote them in that location while she was sitting the way we found her... it means she must have written them by turning only her hand toward the wall. If yeh were to write somethin' in that position, do ya know what the result would be?"

"The result?"

"Think 'bout it."

"You're... not gonna tell me?"

"Hey, I ain't yer walkin' encyclopedia who tells ya everythin'. Yeh need to uncover the mystery of this case yerself... Otherwise, the case will end, and yeh'll remain unconvinced."

I had no idea what he was trying to say, but... It's obvious he wasn't going to tell me.

But regardless, I did find... something that may pertain to the case. So, I wrote down Clue 8: The dying message.

It was weird... it really seemed like Vector knew the meaning behind Cream's dying message, but I had no clue myself...

"Before ya go, there's one more thing I wanna ask. Do ya know how the door to yer bathroom got broken?" Vector asked.

"Broken? Oh, you mean how it gets stuck?"

"Gets stuck?..." Vector said this with... a look of surprise. Did he not know?

"Oh yeah, Cream was the only one I told. Basically, my bathroom door doesn't fit in the frame quite right. When I first tried to use it, I thought it was just locked. But once you learn the trick, it opens no problem!"

But now I wondered... could the door have something to do with the case?...

Just for reference, I made sure to write it down, not as a clue, but something I wanted to remember for the time being.

"So... from what yer sayin', the door doesn't quite fit the frame, huh?" asked Vector. "Actually, I'm referrin' to the broken doorknob."

"Huh? The doorknob?" I asked, confused.

"Ya didn't notice? Well, close yer bathroom door and see. I'm sure yeh'll see what I'm talkin' 'bout."

Still confused, I did what Vector said and..

"Huh?..."

I noticed that the doorknob looked like it was about to fall off.

"That wasn't like that when I gave my room to Cream!"

"It seems like someone must have used their screwdriver or somethin' similar to unscrew it. Whatever it was, it was intentional."

"A screwdriver? But... Knuckles told me that no one has opened up one of their little gifts from Egg Robo!"

"Then someone's lyin'."

"Besides, why is it intentional? Why would someone wanna do that?"

"I'm guessin' they wanted to get the door unlocked, and in the process, broke the whole thing."

"But my bathroom doesn't have a lock on it... Only the girl's bathrooms can lock, right?"

Vector turned around, hand on his cheek and tapping it for a few seconds. When I least expected it, he turned around, stuck with a sudden realization.

"Just one more question," he said.

"Geez, is interrogation hour over?" I asked, wanting to make a joke to lighten the mood.

"Not when I have a mystery to solve. Now, yeh mentioned earlier that yer bathroom door would get stuck, right? Just so I can confirm it, the ONLY person ya told about it was Cream, right?

"Y-Yeah..."

"Interestin'..."

He had the slightest hint of a smirk on his face. I got the sense he was starting to get into all this.

"Then that clears it up."

"Huh? What clears it up?"

"Yeh'll see. Goodbye."

With that, Vector walked away and left my room. While I was annoyed I couldn't be told more, I was glad to have another clue. I wrote down the ninth clue: the bathroom doorknob.

"That's it for my room. I should try and find the others to see if there's anything. Or maybe there's a clue somewhere else?..." I said to myself. I knew I had to start looking into where the murder weapon might have come from, and also... the tablet that was in her garbage can. With her dead, I have no choice but to see for myself what was in that video.

Once I was out in the hall, Shadow walked up toward me.

"Ah ha! Charmy! I saw you leave that room! So, you DID change something about the scene, right?!" he yelled at me.

"N-No! I just investigated, and besides, Knuckles, Big, AND Vector are all in there! I'm telling you, I'm not the killer!"

Shadow simply huffed. "Well fine, if they were all in there, then I guess I have to believe you. Still... I realized something. The killer could have already destroyed some evidence, right? Like, right before anyone found the body, maybe even before you found it too. On the other side of the dorms, there's a trash room there. They could have tossed some stuff in there..."

"I think that's possible actually..." I muttered.

"That son of a bitch... Anyone who even hurts a woman, more or less goes as far as KILLING them in cold blood... they're scum who deserves no forgiveness and deserves death instead. I've always believed this for as long as I can remember. So, whoever the killer is, I will beat the shit out of them for not just the killing, but losing any kind of morals!"

"Well... what if the killer was a girl?"

Shadow was silent for a few seconds, then spoke up again.

"...I'll think about it."

"Rrrrright..."

Turning around, I saw Tails in front of Cream's room.

"Tails?" I asked.

"Augh! Charmy! G-Get away, murderer!" he said, hands up towards his face.

"Oh come on! Do you actually think that? That's ridiculous!" I argued back.

"Hm... well, if you're here talking to me, I bet you think you can get information out of me. I'm doing my own investigation to prove your guilt! I guess if you REALLY wanna know, I can let you in on what I'm doing. See these?"

Tails pointed towards the nameplates on the doors to mine and Cream's room.

"How weird is it that the nameplates were changed?" he said. "After all, Cream's room is actually your room. Got any ideas?"

I... I was simply gob smacked. I had no idea such a thing happened!

"Well, if you excuse me, I'm gonna report my new find to Sonic. Best you not let him find out you were hanging out with me!" Tails said, running off. I frowned... Was Tails so afraid of dying that he wanted to use his emotions to come up with whoever the guilty was?

But still... the hint he provided helps me out so much.

With that, I wrote down Clue 10: the nameplates.

Now I wondered where to go from here. While it would have been smart to find the others, I remembered what Knuckles said about the trash room... Could there have been a clue there too?

Buzzing towards down the hall, I opened up my PAD and looked at all the rooms on the map, seeing that the trash room was close by and on the other side of the dorms. Reaching the door in question, I opened the door and saw that there was... a large and empty pit just below. Across from the pit seemed to be where all the garbage disposal is, and to my right was a computer that... opened up the pit? I could fly there but-

My thoughts were taken away by a suddenly appearing Egg Robo.

"It's the end of the line!" he said. "The trash room... this is where all the trash in the zone eventually winds up."

"Hey, Egg Robo, how do you go across the pit if you can't fly?" I asked.

"No no no! You can't go any further! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed to enter the code on the computer that allows the pit to be opened up!"

"Well... what if they COULD fly? Does the rule apply to them? And besides... cleaning duty?"

"No no no! You can't go any further! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed can enter the code on the computer that allows the pit to be opened up!" he repeated.

"Uh... who's on cleaning duty anyway?"

"No no no! You can't go any further! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed can enter the code on the computer that allows the pit to be opened up!" he continued to repeat.

 _"_ _Oh, this is stupid... It would just be easier to go around and ask the others,"_ I thought to myself.

"No no no! You can't go any further! Only the person on cleaning duty is allowed can enter the code on the computer that allows the pit to be opened up!" he STILL continued to repeat before disappearing.

Still... knowing what Egg Robo said, that means you can't go past here unless you're on cleaning duty, even if you can fly. So, I made sure to make a quick note about it under the note I made about my door.

Leaving, I decided to head down the hall and to my next location: Cream's room. There was still the case of what was on her video that I was interested in, and the reason she was so shaken up about what happened. Trying my best to avoid the gaze of Sonic and Tails, both of whom I could feel their glare without even having to look at them, I entered Cream's room and buzzed over to the trashcan, where I grabbed the tablet out from the trashcan.

"Cream, please forgive me..." I told myself, wondering if the video had anything to do with the case. I unlocked the tablet, clicked the only thing on there: the video app, and pressed play. The screen was dark for a few seconds, and then... someone came up.

It was a smiling rabbit woman wearing a long mauve dress, a blue bonnet, and white gloves and heels. This must have been... her mother.

 _"Cream, I'm so happy that you got into Green Hills. You're the first person in my family to have ever gone to a zone like that. I'm so proud of you, dear,"_ she smiled. _"Make sure to call me before you leave on holiday. I'll make sure to bake you a delicious cake when you come home. And speaking of that, don't worry about the business! I'll continue running it while you're at the zone! Be strong, Cream... and I know you'll take your success worldwide. You've already made me so proud after all..."_

I was melting and even tearing up. It was such a loving, such a warm message that a mother gives their daughter.

A daughter that was murdered...

And then, when I thought this video would have a happy ending, as Cream's mother simply smiled, the video froze and a voice I grew to despise started speaking.

"Cream the Rabbit, the Ultimate Gardener, lives in this peaceful little house with her mother, Vanilla. She's known for growing the loveliest flowers ever seen, and the most delicious fruits and vegetables you ever tasted. Even getting into baking, this lovely family knows what it means to stick together as one, and always getting by with the success they've made and the image they present," Egg Robo said. "But then..."

The video went staticy. And then...

I saw something I could hardly believe.

Vanilla was now on the floor, knocked out or dead... Either way, the walls were no longer the beautiful cream color that they were, they were now a mix of dark grey and blood red. The furniture was now scattered everywhere, and the walls were all slashed and caved in, almost like someone struck through it with a hammer. Finally, the TV behind Vanilla now displayed a close up of Egg Robo's face.

"What the?..." I simply said, looking at the shocking scene in front of me.

"It's such a shame however, that poor, aging Vanilla just so happened to have a little... accident. It's also a shame that the only person there to help her isn't there at all... Without any kind of help, she won't be there to call her daughter, bake her that cake, or continue running the business. For Cream, there's simply no mother for her to go back to unless she does something. So, here's the question... What could have happened to Vanilla? And how can she be saved in time?"

The video ended with the same message I saw in my video.

 **"** ** _LOOK FOR THE ANSWER AFTER GRADUATION!"_**

My breathing hitched. This... was her motive? She was already worried about her mother so much, but to see this?

"This can't be real..." I told myself. It couldn't have been... after all, she said her business was very popular. If Vanilla couldn't have done anything due to what happened in the video, then SURELY someone would have caught it by now...

But if that did happen... everyone back on Mobius must be freaking out... Who knows what else everyone else saw in their videos!

"What kind of person would take things this far?!"

I set down the tablet. It wasn't related to the case... but at least I know now why she was so frightened the other day.

Leaving the room, I saw Wave talking with Sonic and Tails.

"Actually..." I told myself. "I should ask for information about the trash room... Maybe I can solve the mystery there?"

Buzzing up to the three, I cleared my throat. "Uh... guys? What can you tell me about cleaning duty?"

"I don't know, don't ask me," Wave said. "Heck, I didn't even know they did such a thing."

"Actually, I know about that!" Sonic said. "Big is the one in charge of cleaning duty. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, there's something I need to confirm with him. Thanks either way, Sonic," I said.

"No proble-"

He stopped himself and grew wide-eyed.

"Oh NOOOOOO! I just revealed stuff to the killer! Argh!" Sonic put his hands over his head, ruffling his quills.

"Do you still believe that?"

"Leave him be. He wants the killer to feel the sense of justice. That's why he's hard on you it seems," Wave said.

"Right..."

I buzzed away from the three, Tails trying to console Sonic as I went back to my room. Knuckles and Big were still guarding, so now was the perfect time for me to ask.

"Um... Big? Is it true that you're in charge of cleaning duty?" I asked.

"Huh?... Oh yeah... I am," he said. "Why do you ask? Egg Robo talked to me and told me to take care of it... so that's why I'm in charge. I was gonna start for today's round of trash but... well, Cream died..."

"And since you're on cleaning duty, does that mean you know how to reach the other side in the trash room?"

"Oh yeah, I can... I was given the password for it... Egg Robo told me that the password changes every week."

"It does? That's weird..."

"Why do you ask?"

"I mean, why not leave the trash room open all the time so we can throw our own things away?"

"I dunno... maybe it can be used to destroy evidence?..."

"Well... that sounds like an understandable explanation. And the massive pit?"

"Egg Robo says it's to stop anyone from going to the other side. Even though there's people who can fly."

"Well, would you be willing to accompany me there then?"

"Sure... I don't mind-"

"Wait, Big," Knuckles said. "Do you plan to leave guard duty like that?"

"No worries, I shall guard the scene in Big's place," a sudden voice said. Espio suddenly appeared as I yelped.

"E-Espio! When did you get here?" I asked.

"I happened to overhear the conversation on my way passing by. You can trust me, right Big? Right, Knuckles?"

"Of course, I have no doubts about you," Knuckles said.

"Yeah... besides, I won't be too long..." Big said.

"Very well. I'll make sure no one messes anything up," Espio added. "If they do... I shall make them beg for their life before this class trial begins."

He said this with a sudden glint in his eye, almost as if he really meant what he was saying.

I simply nodded as me and Big headed to the trash room. He walked over to the computer and began to type the password in. A few seconds later, a pathway shot forward as Big waited for it to connect to the other side.

"Okay... let's go now..."

Big started to make his way forward as I buzzed behind him. When we reached closer and closer to the other side, he stopped.

"Aaah!" he yelled, bouncing up and down. "Oh no!"

He began to run forward to what appeared to be an incinerator. I could feel the heat from it close by as I tried to keep my distance.

"Why is it on? I turned it off the last time I was here! Who could have done it?" Big asked.

"Wait, Big! Do you realize what you've said? You said you were the last person here and that you turned it off."

"Yeah... when I first came, it wasn't on. When I finished my trash duty, I made sure to turn it off. And yet... it's like it was on all night..."

"How do you turn it on anyway?"

"Oh, it's those buttons over there."

Big pointed to the green and orange buttons.

"You use the green one to turn it on, and the orange one to turn it off," he added.

This meant someone had to come over here without using the password... But how?

I knew I had to do more investigating. But first, I jotted down Clue 11: the incinerator.

Next I looked down on my feet. Interestingly... I noticed two clues right in front of me.

The first was some white hairs on the ground. It looks like it was scattered all over the place.

"Big, are these yours?" I asked.

"Huh?... oh... no, I cleaned up here too..." he said.

I scratched my chin. Then this also was here when the incinerator was turned on... unfortunately, with so many people here that has white fur, I can't make a suspect yet. However, I did write it down as my twelfth clue.

Next, very close to the incinerator is... a white cloth. There was some blood on the tip of it too.

I was even more confused until I picked it up. It... it looked like a white glove. Once again... I can't make an idea on who the killer could be... we all had gloves for the most part, and white fur and a piece of a glove isn't really anything to write home about. Still, I wrote it as my thirteenth clue.

"I think that should be everything. Thank you, Big. You can return to the scene of the crime," I said.

"You're welcome, Charmy. I'm glad I was able to help. And please don't worry... I trust you. I know you didn't kill Ms. Cream the Rabbit," he said.

I smiled... at least I wasn't being demonized.

As I buzzed away from the trash room, I wondered where else I could investigate... but then I remembered the weapon used to kill Cream.

"That was a kitchen knife, wasn't it?" I asked myself. With that, I knew where I should go next.

I began to make my way towards the kitchen, passing by Blaze and Shadow on the way there. When I arrived, I saw Amy sitting at a tablet, a bowl of ice cream in front of her.

"Amy?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"C-Charmy!" she said, clearly caught off guard. "Uh... this isn't what this looks like? I-I'm just taking a break!"

I simply smiled.

"Ugh, I guess you caught me. Actually, I've been taking a break since we started. Sorry, I wanted to help investigate but... eh heh... I'm not the best at investigating," Amy began to rub the back of her head. "Being here is like... my happy place. Plus, I was here last night too and that's when-"

My eyes widened as Amy's words were drowned by the thoughts spinning in my head.

"...and then Sonic said- Uh, Charmy? Did you even listen to me?"

"Repeat what you said," I told her.

"Uhh... me telling Sonic about our plans?"

"No no, before that. What you said about being here last night. Were you here the night Cream was murdered?"

"Oh, yeah I was... why do you ask?"

"Interesting..." I rubbed my chin. "Say, Amy... I was gonna do my investigation in the kitchen. Did you want to accompany me? I don't want you to be all alone when there's a killer out there."

"Aw... that's kind of you, Charmy. I would decline normally because I know I'd be okay but... well, it's your offer after all."

"Good, I'm glad. Plus, you can tell me more about last night."

And so, we walked into the kitchen.

"Uh... what did you need here?" Amy asked.

"There was something about the weapon that struck me as odd. I have to investigate..." I replied. I buzzed over to the wall and to where all the utensils were. I found a rack of knives, but...

One was missing.

"I knew it!" I said, pointing to the knife. "So... it looks like the knife came from here. Amy, did you know before that one of the knives was missing?"

Amy came running over, seeing the empty space and then nodding.

"Yeah, I did. I thought it was kinda strange that it suddenly disappeared like that," she said.

"What? It wasn't gone from the beginning?"

"Nope, it was here last night, lined up like you see it."

"When did you notice them disappear?"

Amy walked over to the sink and put the now empty bowl of ice cream she had with her in it. "So, last night, I was getting some milk with Sonic and I did see them all there. But when I finished my milk and went back to wash my glass... one of the knives was gone."

"It disappeared while you were drinking your milk here?"

"Yeah..."

I realized something right then and there... With Amy's testimony, this should be able to prove my innocence that I wasn't the killer to the others because she and Sonic were right there when someone came and took the knife.

I wrote down my final clue: Amy's account.

"Hey, uh... by the way... did you really kill Cream?" she asked me.

"What?! Of course not!"

Amy was silent for a bit.

"Amy, you DO believe me, right? Do you really think I murdered her?"

"Well... she was killed in your room, right? So, I mean... You were supposed to be friends, and yet if you really DID kill her... On the other hand, it sounds like a classic drama set up with what happened between you two. I see it all the time on my soap operas. When you consider everything..."

She simply sighed. "...I honestly have no idea."

All of a sudden, there was a familiar jingle.

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The monitor turned on, and a familiar face popped up.

"Erm, so ah...I'm getting tired of waiting! What say we just get started?" Egg Robo said. "It's time for the long-awaited... Class Trial! Now then, allow me to appoint a proper location for the proceedings. Please go through the red door on the 1st floor of the zone! Ho ho ho! See you soon!

"I remembered that creepy door on the first floor... That's where I know I should... no, where I HAVE to go!"

* * *

I stood in front of the red door, just... staring at it. It simply loomed as I continued to gaze at it. I couldn't deny... I was scared to go in. Vector told me I had to find the truth to this case... but was finding out the truth what scared me so much?

I thought back to Cream's body... how I know she must be looking down from heaven at me, hoping that I'll expose her killer... So I took a deep breath, and I buzzed forward, putting my hand on the door's handle, and opening it wide.

When I entered into the room, I saw that everyone was there. Before I could say anything...

"Charmy, you're late! And you're too slow too!" Sonic shouted at me.

"Tch, I bet you were afraid you'd be discovered as the blackened," Jet said, not even looking at me.

"Why don't you confess now? It would save us all the trouble!" Tails added.

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet, guys!" Sonic said to the two. "Save that for the class trial! There, we'll expose the details of Charmy's crime!"

 _"_ _They really are convinced I did it..."_ I thought to myself. _"But... I didn't do it. Both me and Cream knew that... but who was it? The one who murdered Cream... is it really one of us?"_

Suddenly, the monitor in this room turned on as Egg Robo appeared on it.

"Ho ho ho... is everyone here? Okay then! Please board the elevator in front of you, which will take you to the courtroom where all of your fates will be decided! Ho ho ho! I'll meet you all down there... I'll be waiting..." he said.

I guess we had no choice... we had to go on the elevator.

"Let us begin..." Espio said, being the first to walk in.

"Good idea," added Blaze.

Just then, Vector walked up next to me.

"Ya scared?" he asked. I simply gulped.

"A little..." I replied.

"I said it before Charmy, but it's up to yeh to uncover the mysteries surroundin' this case yerself. If ya don't yer never gonna come to grips with the truth..."

He walked into the elevator too. It was weird though... did he know something I didn't?

Regardless, I knew I needed to uncover the truth of Cream's death... I didn't need someone to tell me to do it!

"In Cream's honor... I'll do it!" I said.

As much as I said that for a confidence booster, I only trembled with anticipation as I went closer to the elevator, hearing my heartbeat loud and clear and my entire body sweating. As I got in, the doors closed and the elevator started to go down.

All of us simply stood around in the elevator, waiting for it to go down more and more to our destination. My anxiety only flared up more as I saw the walls moving down. The elevator just... continued to descend with heavy clunking sounds.

"I wonder if this is how a death row inmate feels when his time has come..." I thought aloud.

"Rather than that, I think it's more like a defendant waiting to receive his judgement," Blaze replied. I didn't know how to respond, so I kept quiet.

And then, a minute later, the elevator stopped. The doors opened, and we were now in a new room.

The "courtroom" was a big, blue room, with wooden pillars keeping the ceiling up and curtains all aligned against the wall. Candles were lit as the light of the flames danced across the blue walls. In the middle of the checker-patterned floor was a circle of stands, as well as a tall chair overlooking the stands.

"Ho ho ho! You've finally arrived!" Egg Robo's voice said. He then popped up out of nowhere. "What do you think? Doesn't it feel just like a real courtroom?"

"Tch, no. It looks like total fucking shit," Shadow said.

"Well now, okay okay! Everyone find your assigned seats and take the stand! Your name should be on the podium assigned to you! Hurry up now! Hurry up!"

We did what he said as we all took our seats, which were arranged in the giant circle we saw. To my right, Big, Jet, Tails, Blaze, Wave, Tikal, Silver, and Knuckles stood to make the right half of the circle, while some kind of portrait, Sonic, another portrait, Storm, Espio, Vector, Shadow, and Amy made the left half of the circle, with the very top seat not being occupied. It was set up so that everyone could see everyone else, which meant it was easy for anyone to transfer their tension and unease onto anyone else. The air seemed to grow heavy as we sat there.

And so, the curtain on our first case opened... A case of deception, fear, doubt, betrayal, riddles, defense, faith...

And a case... that would lead us into this class trial!

Egg Robo took his seat, and looked around.

"Ah, we all ready to begin? Good! Now, let's get started!"

He grabbed a gavel, and slammed it on the armrest of his chair. A large, four sided screen came down from the ceiling, and it only displayed a message in dark red letters:

 **CLASS TRIAL**

And then, covering that was another phrase in white:

 **ALL RISE!**


	9. Chapter 1 (Class Trial (Part 1))

**(AN: And so, we've reached the long awaited Class Trial... I'll be honest, I've been waiting to write the trial for the LONGEST time, and now that I'm finally writing it, it feels so great that all my ideas are finally being published. Because my document for the trial is over 16k words, I'll split the trial into two parts. I know that it does suck because I find that trials keep you on your toes and you want to know what happens next, but trust me when I say that the wait will be worth it. Don't worry though, I'll post the second part later this week!**

 **For a bit of a recap since it's been a while, Charmy's investigation proved a few things: his bathroom was broken into, someone used the lint roller in his room, a knife was gone from the kitchen, and... well, there's a lot more evidence, but be sure to check the last part as a recap!**

 **And with that, be prepaired for a huge rollercoaster ride of emotions, and big realizations... and the preperation of despair...)**

* * *

 _What's this 'class trial' that Egg Robo mentioned? Can Charmy sweep away the cloud of suspicion surrounding him, even with a dead body laying in his bathroom? And what about the blackened who's actually responsible for Cream's death?_

* * *

I simply watched as Egg Robo shuffled in his chair, as the four-sided TV went back up into the ceiling. The robot coughed and began to speak.

"Ahem, let's begin with a basic introduction of the class trial, so your votes will determine the results!" Egg Robo began. "The purpose of the class trial is to figure out "Who did it?". If you can find it out, only the blackened who committed murder will receive their punishment. But... if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone else besides the blackened, and the one who deceived everyone else will graduate!"

"Just to be sure, the killer really is one of us, correct?" I asked.

"Of course!"

"Okay everyone! Close your eyes, and whoever did it, raise your hand!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Oh, don't be a god damn idiot. Why the hell would anyone raise their hand?" Shadow replied.

"Before we move on and start the trial, I gotta quick question..." Vector added. He then pointed to the two portraits I noticed earlier. "What's goin' on with... THOSE pictures?"

I poked my head out and... the pit in my stomach grew deeper.

The two portraits had a picture of Cream and Rouge respectively, just... normal portraits of them. Only they were in black and white, and each had a red X covering the entire frames and over their faces.

"Aw that? How nice of you to notice!" Egg Robo said. "You see, I'd feel awful if they got left out just because they died! Friendship penetrates even the barriers of death!"

"Friendship... penetrates?" Big asked, turning his head to the side.

 _"Gross... can I stand next to someone else? I really didn't need that turned into an innuendo..."_ I thought, giving the most unamused face to Big.

"Okay... so what about THAT empty stand?" Blaze asked. She pointed at the empty stand in front of Egg Robo's chair. "There were only seventeen of us to begin with, so why are there eighteen stands?"

"Oh, no reason! It's just that our courtroom can fit up to eighteen people! Okay, that wraps up the preamble! It's time to get started! And while I'm on my fourth exclamation point, it's time for you all to discuss the case summery, so... begin!" Egg Robo said.

I gulped as I looked around at everyone else. It was about to begin... the debate to decide who we thought the real killer was. Anything I found or noticed, I had to be ready to speak up about anything... Because this wasn't about me, this was about the lives of everyone else!

I felt the room spin as our first debate began.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

 _"Huh? What the heck is that?"_ I thought, wondering what voice in my head said that weird sentence. I shook my head, I shouldn't dwell on it... I had to listen!

Sonic began first. "I assert that the one who was murdered was Ms. Cream the Rabbit!"

"Uh... dude? We know that already," Silver replied, already looking tired.

"And the murder took place in Charmy's room," Wave said, pushing up her glasses.

"In the bathroom..." Amy also added, looking concerned.

"So, it seems most likely that... the killer must have taken her by surprise while she was in the bathroom. She didn't even have a chance to resist..." Tikal ended, already tearing up.

I thought about the statements I heard. Something was... wrong. If Cream hadn't resisted at all, there's no explanation for what happened to my room. That's why... I knew Tikal was wrong.

And that's why I had to refute that!

"No that's wrong!" I yelled, pointing at Tikal. She jumped, frightened at the ferocity in my voice.

"Y-Yes?!" she replied, still taken off guard.

"Just a second, Tikal," I said, calming down. "Try to remember how my room looked. With the way things were damaged, I think we can definitely assume there was a struggle."

"A struggle? Between who and who?"

"Between Cream and the killer, of course."

"So you're saying that Cream wasn't caught by surprise in the bathroom?..."

"I believe she must have been attacked in the main room first, then she ran to the bathroom to try and hide," Blaze added. "The killer followed her in and finished the job there."

"That much should have been obvious after taking one look at the scene. It shouldn't even need explaining," Wave said, looking at the echidna girl next to her.

"S-Sorry..." Tikal replied, looking at the ground.

"Okay so... what's next?" Silver asked.

"Next is the subject of the murder weapon," Knuckles replied, crossing his arms.

"Wow... this is starting to sound like a real trial..." Big said.

"I... uh... think I get everything that's goin' on!" Storm interjected before rubbing his head. "Erm... I think."

"Don't worry, Storm. We'll figure it out," Jet said, giving a smirk to his teammate.

"Heh heh, you got it, boss!"

Regardless, I knew that from what everyone was talking about, we had to determine what was used to kill Cream!

And so began the second debate...

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, what was used to kill her?" Knuckles asked.

"Right by her lay a knife. There was still fresh blood on it too," Espio replied.

"I got it! Then that must be the murder weapon!" Sonic said.

"So, the killer just used some random knife they had on them? That fucking sick son of a bitch! How could someone do that..." Shadow said.

Random knife? Clearly someone didn't do their investigating hard enough...

I gave a smirk, and pointed right at Shadow.

"No that's wrong!" I yelled.

"Okay kid, we got it! You think you're a game hero-" Shadow said.

"Shut up, listen to the bee," Wave replied.

"I... augh..."

"Well, I wouldn't call the knife a RANDOM knife. It's clearly a kitchen knife," I said.

"Huh? A kitchen knife?" Shadow asked.

"After the murder, we discovered that one of the knives from the kitchen was missing."

"Which means that knife must be the murder weapon..." Knuckles mused.

"Oh... well uh... right! I knew that... I mean, you could tell by the handle that the knife was a kitchen knife...," Shadow spoke up again, stumbling over his words.

"Okay, so... we've established that the murder weapon was a kitchen knife but now I ask you: what does that exactly get us?" Tails said, adjusting his goggles. "After all, through all the investigating I've done and calculating my own personal theories, I can deduct that the only person who could have killed her was Charmy!"

"Yeah, that's right!" Sonic added. "Charmy's room was the scene of the crime! What more proof do you need?"

"H-Hold on a second-!" I began, before a certain someone interrupted.

"Hey, let's actually draw our conclusions after we presented our arguments. Otherwise, what's the point of the trial?" Vector asked.

"Yeah, well I'm going to need a lot of convincing otherwise. Most of the facts point towards that being the likely scenario," Tails replied, glaring at Vector.

"I dun think that's true at all. Trials always have somethin' within them, and I'm sure if we keep at it, somethin' new will reveal itself."

"You really think so?..." Silver asked. Vector was simply silent in response.

I took a breather. Sure, Sonic and Tails were still accusing me but... I guess it only comes with the territory. Regardless, Vector's right. Trials always have a breakthrough, waiting for us to find it, because I know damn well, I'm not the killer!

And with that, the third argument began:

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, I guess there's no question that the kitchen knife was the murder weapon but... where does that get us?" Tails asked.

"Here's my idea: Charmy must have taken it from the kitchen when no one was looking, went looking for Cream and stabbed her with it!" Jet added.

"Oh, smart idea boss!" Storm replied.

"That's a good suggestion! It does line up with some of the facts!" Tails said.

"Then that settles it! Charmy's the murderer! Case closed!" Sonic added, pointing straight at me.

My brow lowered. Jet's claims I took the knife from the kitchen when no one was looking... but that meant having to have my chance to nab it at night, and there's one person who can prove it!

"So eh, Charmy? What do you say? Is it true you got no one to back you up-" Jet said, before I pointed at him.

"No, that's wrong!" I yelled.

"Argh, me too?!"

"Yeah you, because your statement is false! First all, I didn't take the knife from the kitchen."

"Tch, yeah yeah yeah, you didn't take the knife. What's next, you're not the killer?"

"Jet, do you really think... that shrimp can even murder?" Wave said.

"Well, it'd sure as hell make things interesting but fine. Tell me, how didn't you take the knife?"

"Because what if I have a witness that proves I didn't. Amy, what do you think?" I asked the pink hedgehog girl looking at her nails.

"Huh?..." Amy said, caught off guard.

"Don't you remember what you told me before the class trial? About how you were drinking milk here in the dining hall last night and all the knives were there, but when you went back to wash your glass, one of them was gone? And just so we're clear, the knife disappeared when you were in the dining hall, right?"

"Yeah... that's right..."

"And, at any point while you were there, did you ever see anyone come into the dining hall?"

Amy then crossed her arms, looking up and tapping her foot. "Umm... no, I don't think so."

"You don't THINK so?!" Wave asked, suspicious.

"No, he definitely wasn't there!"

"The knife disappeared while Amy was in the dining hall, but I wasn't there the entire time. In other words, there's no way I could have taken the knife!" I said, standing my ground.

"Alright, so how about a new theory?" Jet said. "What if Charmy and the idiot shopper girl are in cahoots together and lying to protect one another? Like some kinda Bonnie and Clyde shit!"

"Idiot shopper girl?!" Amy angrily said, clearly offended at the comment. "Oh and MORE importantly, why would I wanna be involved in something like that?!"

"On that note, I have a question I wanna ask the egg..." Wave said. "If there is an accomplice, do they also become blackened too?"

"So you ask, and so I shall answer!" Egg Robo said. "Each murder is allowed to have an accomplice, but only the one who does the killing will get to graduate!"

"So, in other words, two people can work together but only one of them gets any reward from it..." Vector mused, scratching his chin.

"Then there's no way anyone would work together, right?" Shadow asked.

"But..." Tikal added, finger on her mouth. "What if they did work together and they just didn't know about the rule?"

"Argh, good grief! Enough already! No, okay?! There are NO accomplices in this case!" Egg Robo angrily said, stopping himself when he realized EXACTLY what he said. "...oops, did I say that out loud?"

"You did..." I muttered under my breath before turning to face the people in front of me. "Anyway, I didn't go to the dining hall, and I didn't take the knife, so I'm not the killer!"

"Okay so... who DID take the knife?" Tikal asked.

"Amy seems like the most obvious suspect. After all, didn't she say she was in the dining hall?" Blaze said, staring right at the pink hedgehog.

"No, no way! I swear it wasn't me!" she replied quickly.

"Is there a way to prove it, Ms. Amy Rose?..." Big asked.

Sonic simply shifted in place as he sighed, slapping his forehead. "Oh boy, can't believe I'm gonna say this, but... I can."

"Yeah, that's right! My Darling Sonic was with me the whole time as I was drinking my milk!"

"I mean... couldn't either one of them grabbed the knife?" Silver asked.

"Actually, no... because um... well..."

"Just spit it out already!" Shadow judged.

"I told my Darling Sonic that if he left, he'd have to marry me when we got out! Although, the truth is that I was really scared about those videos... But I didn't tell him that... Regardless, this means we both have airtight alibis!"

"So, if it wasn't either of you, then what other possibility is there?" Blaze asked,

"Uh... the killer? They had to get the knife from somewhere, y'know," Storm replied, head turned as he scratched the top of it.

"No, it wasn't the killer. There's one other possibility..." Sonic added.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Right, I forgot! One other person did come to the dining hall while we were there!" Amy remembered.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?..." Wave questioned.

"Because... they're not here anymore..."

I froze. She couldn't be talking about...

My fear was confirmed when Amy kept talking. "Cream. She's the one who came to the dining hall... And later, she wound up dead..."

"So... is it true? Cream really did take the knife?" I asked.

"That's the only possibility..." Sonic said, voice getting softer. Not just because of what happened to poor Cream but... it almost felt like he couldn't antagonize me anymore. "And when I think back to it, she was kinda acting really unusual. When she came into the dining hall, she didn't give us a second look. She just went straight to the kitchen. As she left and we questioned her, she said she got a quick drink of water. But if I had to guess... the person who took the knife was the victim herself!"

"I... I'm sure she just took it for self-defense..." I weakly argued back. I don't know why it felt like they wanted to treat Cream in a manner that isn't the victim of this case.

"So, if I got this correct... the knife she took was then taken from her, and she was killed with it?" Wave asked. She stared straight at me. "In that case, while it's true Charmy may not have taken the knife, but he still could have killed her."

"What?!" I said, more thoughts pouring into my head. The biggest one of them all? _"Why do you keep thinking of ways to accuse me?!"_

"Ah hah! I thought this meant Charmy couldn't be the killer but now this makes more sense! That means he could have done it after all like you said, Wave!" Sonic exclaimed. "Look at him now! Trying to feign dumb!"

"N-No! You're wrong!" I tried to argue back.

"Tch, I'm starting to lose my patience with you, bee!" Storm scolded. "I told you, you're gonna show me respect, and twisting this argument and sending us into the wrong direction?! You're scary, shrimp! Real scary! It's like you got a talent for being the biggest dip I've ever met! In fact, lemme show you what happens when you don't give me respect-!"

The albatross cracked his knuckles as my breathing got more hitched as I continued to hyper ventilate.

 _"If I don't do something quick, they WILL blame me for the murder! Don't they understand? If they convict me, everyone will die!"_ I thought.

And just then, my prayers were answered by a certain beige coat wearing crocodile, holding his arm up.

"Hold on. It's still too early to decide that Charmy's the killer, right?" Vector said. "Cause ya see, if the room did belong to the killer, then they did somethin' dumb as hell. And, until we clear that up, ya can't say that Charmy is the killer with absolute certainty."

"Dumb? What the hell are you talking about?" Shadow questioned.

"Somethin' was missin' from the scene of the crime that, by all rights, shouldda been there. Yeh know what I'm talking 'bout, dontcha Charmy?"

"Something that should have been at the scene but wasn't... that must be the crucial point..." I told myself, getting out my PAD and looking through my clues. "Something that wasn't there... something that wasn't there..."

Scanning through everything I had written down, I found it written near one of my clues.

"Now I understand!" I said. "My lint roller was used, obviously to clean up fur or quills, but bees don't shed at all!"

"So... the culprit removed some evidence?" asked Tikal.

"Yeah, and if I were the culprit, why would I need to get rid of any kind of fur, let alone, IF I even shed at all!"

"Exactly! And even if I could, it wouldn't be unusual at all to find any kind of fur at the crime scene, if the crime scene is in my room," I said.

"The reason all the fur was gone was to remove any trace that Cream had ever been there," Blaze said. "That makes sense, does it not?"

"Nah, cause if that were the cause, they'd have to do more. Mainly, do somethin' 'bout the body, not just her fur," Vector replied.

"Oh... that makes more sense..." Big said.

"I... ugh, yeah I agree there... I'm inclined to believe the bee now... Sorry boss..." Storm added, hanging his head.

"Well, regardless, why wasn't there any fur on the ground? If Cream was attacked by someone that wasn't Charmy, there has to be some shedding left over, right?" Tails asked.

"Well, the killer got rid of it all, naturally. With the lint roller. To remove any kind of evidence that THEY had ever been there," Vector replied.

"Wait, then does that mean?..." Shadow asked.

"Yeah, it's beyond reason to think that the room's owner and the killer are the same person."

"Then... Charmy isn't the culprit then! Like, it's official?" Tikal exclaimed.

"Hold on now!" Sonic said, pointing at Vector. "Do you think that we can decide on Charmy's innocence based solely on the fact that there was no fur?"

"Nah, there's other reasons that prove why Charmy couldn't have done it," Vector replied, staring right at Sonic. "And don't say somethin' like 'Oh he's too weak to commit murder'. That ain't it."

"Please, do share Vector. It may be the key to proving Charmy's innocence for everyone else," Espio said, eyes closed.

"Do yeh remember anythin' 'bout the bathroom at the scene?"

 _"Other than the obvious dead body, yeah,"_ I thought to myself.

"Cream was attacked in the main room first, then fled into the bathroom, right?"

"Yeah, then they ran after her, got into the bathroom, and stabbed her," Shadow said.

"And how did the killer get into the bathroom? Did they have any trouble with it?"

"Well, getting into a bathroom shouldn't be too much of a hassle! Why are you making that a huge point?" Storm asked.

"I'm certain the killer had some trouble gettin' into the bathroom... There was clear evidence left behind. Do yeh remember, Charmy?"

The evidence that the killer struggled to get into the bathroom...

I looked back at my notes and looked through my clues. Scanning through each one, I saw the one I had wrote down for the doorknob.

"I got it! The evidence that the killer had trouble getting into the bathroom... you're talking about the doorknob, right Vector?" I asked.

"Huh? The doorknob? What doorknob?" Silver asked.

"A knob that opens a door, naturally! What do you mean what doorknob? It's clear we mean the doorknob for my bathroom. It was broken. Here, Egg Robo, do you allow physical evidence to be shown?"

"Why of course! You want a visual of your evidence, right? Well, I have no problems getting you that if it makes the trial interesting and gets you closer to finding the blackend!" Egg Robo said. He pressed a button and the four-sided screen came down with a picture of my broken doorknob.

"See? Notice how the top part was unscrewed and how it looks like it's ready to fall off."

"Oh yeah true... but what does it mean?" Tikal asked.

"In tryin' to bypass the lock, they ended up nearly removin' the entire doorknob. This is another bewilderin' act for the room's owner. At this point, we should be convinced that Charmy is beyond suspicion," Vector said.

"Um... I'm not sure about that..." Tails said. "If you're trying to get to someone for the intentions of murder, you would naturally break down a door if it means you can reach your victims. I know you've seen horror movies where a serial killer does that. Only, instead of using a weapon, the killer unscrewed the doorknob to get it open."

"Heh, still dun see? Alright then... let's take another look at how the incident unfolded. Hopefully, yeh'll see what I mean."

Vector said it was bewildering... I didn't notice it at first, but is that the keypoint?

It seemed like Vector was ready to make his argument, so I let him clear his throat.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"The incident took place in Charmy's room. Cream was first attacked in the main room, and then fled into the bathroom," Vector said.

"Then the killer ran after her and got stalled by the door," Shadow added.

"At that point, the killer had to find a way to break down the door because Cream had locked it," Tails said.

"After that, the killer finally had Cream cornered and right where they wanted her..." Storm said.

"And that's where... they finished the job..." Tikal cried.

"So here they are, arguing about what happened with the rest of us..." Silver said.

"Admit it, Charmy! I'm not gonna back down until I have full, 100% proof!" Sonic yelled.

In the midst of everyone talking, I noticed something interesting about what Tails said...

Cream had... locked the door?

It's true though... no one else knew about how my bathroom door worked, so this had to be his wrong statement.

"Tails, that's wrong!" I said.

"What's wrong? And why did you suddenly change your new catchphrase?" he replied.

"The reason my bathroom didn't open wasn't because it was locked. Don't you remember? The girls' dorms are the only ones with locking bathrooms, right?"

"Yes, now that you mention it, that is true..." Knuckles said.

"Then... why didn't your bathroom door open? Tikal asked.

"Because it was stuck," I said.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Doors don't get stuck... unless..." Tails said.

"It seems you hit the mark. My bathroom door doesn't fit the frame quite right."

"Hey! Don't you try to act like Tails is wrong!" Sonic said.

"You don't need to defend him, Sonic. There's proof after all. Egg Robo can testify to that."

"Yep! True as true can be!" the egg robot said. "But you know... it's rather ironic that the Ultimate Average Student gets such a cruddy door isn't it? I think that shows your status amongst everyone else!"

I frowned. _"Thanks Egg Robo for the diss... thanks,"_ I thought, rolling my eyes.

"Anyway..." Vector said. "The reason the door didn't open was just 'cause it was stuck. But the killer didn't know that, and assumed it was locked, so they tore apart the doorknob to get in."

"Okay, but then why would the killer even think the door was locked in the first place?" asked Blaze. "Everyone should have known you can't lock any of the boy's bathrooms."

"But the killer could easily make that mistake, thanks to one important detail 'bout the scene of the crime," Vector replied.

"The killer was convinced that the bathroom was locked, so they didn't know that the door actually COULDN'T be unlocked," I muttered to myself. "In other words, the important detail about the scene of the crime that they didn't was..."

I thought about it and remembered what Blaze must have been alluding to. The boy's bathrooms... and... the signs.

I snapped my finger... of course... the crime took place in my room!

"Didja figure it out, Charmy?" Vector asked.

"Yeah... the killer must not have realized that it was my room," I replied.

"What... are you saying the killer didn't know where he was?" Big replied.

"He's right," Vector said.

"Oh! Oh, I didn't think that would be the case..."

"Well, to be more specific... What the killer didn't know at first, was that Charmy and Cream switched rooms. That's what lead to the misunderstandin' 'bout the bathroom. If Cream had been in her own room, then..."

"Then there would have been a lock on the door, and they would really have to break through..." Sonic said, sounding defeated.

"So, they had no idea how unnecessary their actions were," Espio added.

"Ultimately, we can't know if it came open by force or simply by accident, but... the killer musta been confused, with no idea how they actually got the door open," Vector continued.

"Regardless, it was a pointless act. Wasting time trying to break down a door that wasn't looked is so foolish," Wave replied.

"And it's something I wouldn't do, because I would have known exactly why it wasn't opening, right?" I said.

"That is... the most likely possibility."

"So the killer would have to be someone who didn't know they switched rooms!" Tikal said.

"Then... Charmy couldn't have done it..." Sonic said, sounding even more defeated. I smirked. Even if it took him long enough, shows him right for how he tried to pin this all on me.

"Eugh, this sucks. I totally was betting on you being the killer but looks like I was wrong," Jet said. "Looks like I owe Storm a few rings."

Storm pumped his fist, a smile of content on his face. Now this was more insulting... they BET on me being the killer?

"Well, that's all fine and good but we have no one to victimize now!" Tails said.

"Yeah, if Charmy isn't the killer, then who could it be?" Sonic asked.

"Well gee, if you all and SPECIFICALLY you two, Sonic and Tails, didn't decide to demonize me this whole time, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess!" I shot back at the two. They lowered their heads.

"Damn, you put them in their place," Shadow said. "But enough of that! Then who did it?!"

"Can I raise the white flag?..." Big asked. "I'm getting hungry... and sleepy..."

"But... what happens if we can't decide on who we think did it?" Tikal asked.

"Well then, why don't we vote now? Majority rules!" Sonic said.

"Uhh... Sonic?" asked Tails. "Majority rules? Seriously? I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Yeah! Our necks are on the line here! Someone should seriously do something... like, for real!" Silver said.

"Does no one have any other thoughts or questions? It doesn't matter how trivial they may seem..." Blaze added.

"Oh!" Amy exclaimed. "Actually, I do have a question!"

"Oh... from you..."

"You don't have to act like I'm gonna ask some dumb question!"

"It's fine, Amy! Just tell us!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Anything for you my Darling Sonic! Okay so umm... I was wondering, how did the culprit even get into Charmy's room in the first place?"

"Actually... that is an interesting question..." Espio said.

"There's a few theories I did come up with. One of the first ones was that she may have dropped the room key she had on her," said Tails.

"Hm... I don't think so... it seems too obvious..." Sonic replied.

"Then, maybe the culprit picked the lock?" Tikal asked.

"Wrong! If you recall, Egg Robo made it very clear that all the locks are unpickable!"

"Actually... I got an idea... I think the killer got in the easy way..." Big said. "Perhaps they knocked, wanted to talk, and Ms. Cream the Rabbit... let them in..."

"No, that can't be it, either," I replied.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I just thought of it..."

"Well, why can't that be it?" Knuckles asked.

I knew why... she wanted me to do something in particular because of how afraid she was. And that was the reason...

"...we switched rooms because Cream was already scared. I told her to not open the door for anyone, and she told me she wouldn't do such a thing at all. Knowing what she'd been through, I can't believe that she would have opened the door for anyone," I said.

"Well, think of it this way," Vector said, "...what if her bein' scared was a lie?"

"Huh?..."

I was caught off guard. Was Vector implying... she was lying?!

No, no of course he's wrong! She promised me! She was... she was!

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" I yelled. "Why would she lie about something like that?!"

"Judgin' from yer reaction, I know ya don't wanna consider it, but look at this and tell me... can ya still deny the possibility?" Vector replied.

That was when Vector pulled something out from his coat pocket and showed it to everyone.

"I found this sheet at the scene of the crime. It reads as follows..."

The detective cleared his throat and began to read.

 _"There's something I want to talk to you about, just the two of us. In five minutes, come see me in my room. Check the nameplates to make sure you don't get the wrong room, okay?"_

"I found a notepad durin' mah search, and I shaded in the top sheet with a pencil, and these were the words that appeared."

"Oh! Oh, I've seen those!" Amy exclaimed. "Yeah, people do those on detective shows all the time! When you write, it can leave an imprint. So just sketch over the next sheet of paper and then you'll see the words! Seeing that I was all like, 'Holy crap! I better make sure I rip the paper out before I use it from now on!'"

"It's old fashioned, but even the classics are useful from time to time. Oh, and I should mention, I found the notepad on the desk in Charmy's room."

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"Which means, only someone who had been in Charmy's room before the incident could have written it," Vector continued.

"Then it was either Charmy, who lived there, or Cream, who switched rooms for the night..." Wave mused.

"So Charmy, didja write this?"

"N-No... that looks-" I began before Vector interrupted me.

"Of course ya didn't. 'Cause the note has the signature of a certain someone: Cream's signature."

Then the note... Cream really wrote it?

And if so...

"Why?" I asked. "Why would she write that?"

"The note was likely her way of gettin' in touch with a certain someone. She must have slid it under their door to let them know she wanted to meet with them in secret," Vector replied.

"So... Cream gave the message? I mean... I would go if I were that person... she always seemed nice..." Big said.

"But can we be sure anyone even got this note?" Blaze asked. "Even if they did, I don't think they're at all involved in what happened."

"Huh? What makes you say that?" Tikal asked.

"Hu hu hu... would you like to hear what I have to say? Very well then, pay attention!" Blaze now smiled and closed her eyes.

She cleared her throat as I could tell we were in for another argument.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Cream and Charmy switched rooms, correct? But in the note, the place they were asked to come to specifically said MY room," Blaze said.

"I see... so if someone read that note... then they would have gone to Cream's room!" Tikal replied.

"Exactly, the room that Charmy was staying in. So, in other words, even if someone did read the note and did what it said... then they wouldn't have any connection to what happened."

"Hmm... it would certainly seem that way..." Knuckles mused.

I thought about what Blaze was arguing about... The killer went to my room instead of Cream's, and the reason for that was because of what got switched between me and Cream's rooms.

"So, that's all I have to say, now if anyone would like to-" Blaze said before I said my, apparently new, catchphrase.

"No, that's wrong!" I said, pointing at her. "The nameplates both mine and Cream's room got switched."

"They got... switched?" Blaze asked, confused.

"That's right," Vector said. "The nameplates got switched, just like the rooms themselves. As a result, the nameplate on Cream's room actually had Charmy's name, and vice-versa."

"So, what you're say is, the room Cream was staying in was marked as her room," Wave said.

"Then... if someone DID do what the note said, they would end up at Charmy's room where Cream was!" Tikal added.

"Plus, their rooms are right next to each other. So, changin' the nameplates would be no problem," Vector continued. "And the one who switched the names was... well, 'course it wasn't yeh, right Charmy?"

"Right..." I said.

"Then... who did it?" Tails asked.

"I dunno, sure wasn't me though!" Storm said.

As others began to talk... I realized that there was only one person who could have switched the nameplates... The only other person who knew... we switched rooms...

I didn't want to say it yet but I had a big clue at who it was.

"Cream and I were the only ones who ever knew about the switching rooms. So, the only other person besides me who would even know how to switch the nameplates was... Cream..." I said, my tone getting softer as I spoke.

"Yeh can also infer as much from her note," Vector said. "Remember? She told the reader to check the nameplate. She woulda only written that if she knew the nameplates had been switched."

"But... why would she switch them in the first place?" Tikal asked.

"Maybe to confuse us?" Jet replied.

"Perhaps," Vector added. "She wanted someone to come to the room she was in, and to ALSO hide the fact that it was Charmy's room"

"Huh?" I replied, now only getting more confused.

"Inviting someone to 'your' room, but not telling them you switched it... why would anyone do that and what's the meaning behind it?" Amy asked.

"To understand that, we're gonna first need to understand what happened after the person got into the room," Vector replied. "That's where the answer lies."

"What happened then was probably... Okay okay, how does this sound? Whoever she invited over, they came in and attacked her! We did it everyone! We know who did it now! Whoever she invited over is the culprit!"

"But we still don't know who it is you god damn idiot..." Shadow growled.

"Cream fought with her killer there in the room, yes?" Blaze asked. "Perhaps the answer to our previous question lies in that initial struggle."

"I think ya gotta point, Blaze," Vector replied.

"Then... We just have to figure out what happened during the fight, right?" Amy asked.

"That reminds me..." Knuckles said. "There was a replica machete at the murder scene. Was that perhaps used during the fight?"

"Oh yeah... Knuckles and Big told me about that. What's the deal with that machete?" Shadow asked.

"From what I saw, this may have been the object used to destroy Charmy's room," Espio added.

"About the machete..." I spoke up. "Cream suggested that I hold onto it, thinking that it might come in handy if I had to defend myself. I think it's likely that the killer used it to break Cream's right wrist."

"But how can you be certain that's what broke her wrist?" Tails questioned. "There were other objects around here that could be used to cause such an injury."

I stared at Tails. Maybe he didn't want to give up on accusing me... but I know the reason Cream's wrist was broken with the fake machete... In fact, when you look at her wrist...

"Egg Robo, I'm going to need another picture to show as evidence. Can you pull up a picture of Cream's wrist?" I asked.

"Roger that, oh great and holy bee!" Egg Robo replied, showing us the picture I needed on the four sided screen.

"Take a good look at her broken wrist, and it should become pretty clear," I buzzed away from my stand and towards the screens, pointing at her wrist. "See right there? Where her wrist is all swollen? Doesn't that look like something glittery right there?"

"Is... is that gold?" Tikal asked.

"It sure is. Specifically, the gold coating from the replica machete. You barely have to touch that stuff and it'll stick right to you. And, there's some on her wrist because-"

"I got it! Because she was hit with the machete, right there on her wrist!" Sonic exclaimed.

"So... the truth's drawing closer?" Storm asked. "Hell yeah! Now all we gotta do is find this sonnuva bitch and we're done here! Everyone, show us your hands! The glitter is probably still on there if you're it!"

"I doubt it'll work like that. The killer would have likely removed any and all coating before they came here," Espio replied.

"Then we should at least try to solve this mystery!" Silver said.

"Yeah, what the other grey dude said!" Storm added.

I nodded. What happened in my room... and what led to Cream's death... we need to make that clear!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"When the fighting broke out, the culprit grabbed the machete and dealt the first blow! A machete based sneak attack!" Silver began.

"And that's what broke Ms. Cream the Rabbit's wrist, right?..." asked Big.

"So when she tried to fight back... she grabbed the kitchen knife she had hidden away!" Jet added.

"But then the culprit took THAT from her too..." said Tikal.

"And then? They killed her with it," Espio added.

"Yeah! And that's what happened!" finished Silver.

I thought about the argument... If the person with the machete really did attack first, then there's no explanation for a how a certain part of the sword got damaged. Sure enough, right down on my PAD was the clue I needed to refute Silver's statement: the sheath of the machete.

"Tell me more about the sneak attack," Tails said.

"Oh, well I think-" Silver began, before I pointed at him.

"No, that's wrong!" I said. "I don't think the fight started with the machete."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because the machete's sheath had been scratched. If I can show you a picture... Oh, it's here on my PAD!... somehow."

I showed my PAD to everyone. "See? There's a gash in it, almost like someone cut into it with something sharp."

"Something sharp... do you mean the kitchen knife? That's the only sharp thing we found at the scene..." Tikal said.

"Hey hey hey! Slow down a lil! Explain it better so I know what the hell's going on!" Shadow exclaimed.

"Alright, lemme explain it a little better," I began. "If the machete was used first, there wouldn't be any explanation for the scratch on the sheath. If you wanted to attack with it, wouldn't it make sense to take the sheath off first? Otherwise, you're just swinging a blunt object, not a sharp weapon that can kill."

"Oh... right, that's true. And with it on, even if you can lift it, it'd be heavy, bulky, and overall not the best thing to use as a weapon."

"Uh... so how did the sheath get damaged?" Big asked.

"If they got attacked with the kitchen knife, maybe they grabbed the machete as a defensive impulse. In that situation, there wouldn't be any time to actually unsheathe the sword," Vector replied.

"So, you're saying that the sword was initially used to defend against an attack from the knife..." Espio said.

"And that means whoever had the knife was the one who attacked first!" Storm exclaimed.

"Guys, guys! I think I get it! Okay, so here's how it all played out..." Sonic said. "The culprit came in, found the kitchen knife hidden somewhere, and took the knife and attacked Cream before she knew what was happening! So, as a result, she grabbed the machete to defend herself, but then the culprit took that from her too! Then, after they broke her wrist with the sword... they took the knife and finished it..."

"It does sound very sound..." Tails said. "And... almost sad."

"Sorry, but I dun think Cream used the machete to defend herself, Sonic," Vector replied.

"Huh? How can you not think that?! She was being attacked! No matter how effective, it's only natural you come up with a way to defend yourself!"

"It's cause she never held the machete at all. There's a certain part of her body that makes this clear."

Hearing this, I suddenly got an 'Ah-ha!" moment in my head. There really was only one part of her body that proves she never used the machete...

"I got it... you mean her palms, right?" I asked. "The palms of her hands were perfectly clean, so I don't think she ever picked up the machete."

"But how can you know that just by looking at her palms?" Amy asked.

"Well, the thing about that machete is that even touching it a little bit, the gold coating will get on you no matter what. Do you remember the image I showed you? We haven't discussed it yet but... a lot of the gold coating already came off the handle. So, it's safe to assume that's because whoever used the machete got some of it on their hands. There's no way she could have picked it up and come away completely clean."

"Maybe it has to do with washing your hands! Doi!" Jet mocked.

 _"Right, cause that's what I do when I'm being pursued by someone with the intention of murder: stop into the bathroom and wash my hands..."_ I thought to myself.

But regardless, there was no way Cream washed the gold coating off her hands... After all... there was a certain something in the rules that was explained to us.

"If you think back to the EggPAD, Cream's time of death was 1:30 a.m. Night time begins at 10 p.m., doesn't it? And, recall that one of the rules was that all water shuts off at night time," I said.

"Oh... uh... right, I uh... knew that," Jet said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Whatever, that aside!" Sonic said. "If Cream never touched the machete, then that means that the killer was the only one who used it! Actually, wait... IF that's right, then the one who damaged the sheath with the kitchen knife was-"

"Cream?... She had the knife?" I asked. It made sense, because she was the one without the machete, but...

"We already said the attack started with... that," Tikal said.

"The person with the knife attacked first, and then the machete was used as an impromptu defense," Wave said, holding up her glasses.

"Then... was the person who really attacked first? Was it... Ms. Cream the Rabbit?" asked Big, afraid. I was suddenly afraid, anxious, and realizing this, it changed so much...

"Now do yeh understand? She ain't some blameless victim in this," Vector said.

"No, I don't think she's a victim," Wave continued. "It's almost like... she had been planning to commit a murder of her own."

"H-Hold on!" I yelled.

"I'm not done. She took the knife from the kitchen, and then invited the culprit to the room she was staying in. And IF it's true that she had the kitchen knife and attacked without provocation..."

"Then these are the actions of an assailant," Espio said.

"Damn... never mind what I said about Charmy, this girl is even scarier!" Storm said.

"Actually, this brings up a new point..." Blaze began. "Charmy, Cream was the one that suggested that you two switch rooms, right? Maybe the reason she wanted to switch rooms... was because she wanted to pin the crime on you. Of course, it's just a possibility, but do you think it's possible?"

My world shattered even more hearing that. I felt like collapsing, and I felt like the room was spinning.

"Cream wanted to... pin it... on me?!" was all I was able to sputter out.

"That would also explain why she would want to switch the nameplates. She wanted to get whoever she had targeted to come to your room, where she was staying. By committing the murder there, instead of her room, that would put Charmy on the blame. For it to work however, the target had to be lured out while still keeping the room swap a secret. If the target knew she had switched rooms, then they would have become suspicious."

"All that just to switch some names?" Shadow asked.

"It seems risky..." Big said.

"Yeah, what the cat said!" Storm added. "Even if it worked, Charmy would just tell everyone they'd switched rooms!"

"I dunno, Storm..." Wave replied. "I'm not sure our softhearted Charmy is capable of that kind of cutthroat behavior. Cream must have realized the same thing, which is why out of all of us, she asked him to switch rooms. Not only that, but wasn't she the one who hung out with him all the time in the days leading up to her death?"

I looked at the ground...

Did this explain why she wanted to be so friendly with me? Was I too nice that she ended up using my kindness to pin a crime on me?

All so she could see Vanilla?...

"Not to mention..." Jet began. "With Charmy being like, forgettable, and her being an Ultimate, who would you be more likely to believe? The bee kid who can't stand up for himself, or the sweet looking girl who usually presents herself to be as nice as nice can be?"

"Do you think she had this all planned out?..." Big asked.

"If so... holy shit! Storm was right! That girl is even scarier than we thought! I never took her as the type who'd go this far and plan all of this out!" Shadow exclaimed.

"But..." Blaze interjected. "In the end, her plan backfired. She launched her attack with the knife, but she found herself under attack instead. It must explain her broken wrist. She got attacked, and because of what happened, it caused her to drop the knife."

"The tables were suddenly turned on her... and she died at the hands of the one she'd planned to murder," said Knuckles.

"H-Hold it! I've listened to enough of this!" I argued back. "That can't be true! Because... because!"

"Hey hey hey!" Egg Robo complained. "You've TOTALLY derailed the argument! You're being super boring, talking about things that have nothing to do with the trial! Come on, hurry up and decide who did it! Wouldn't it be such a shame if I had to punish you all because you ran out of time?"

"Oh yeah... we do have to decide on who we think did it, don't we?" Silver said.

I didn't respond. I only continued to look down at the ground... I didn't want to stare into the faces of my friends...

"Okay, yeh know what," Vector said. "I'm gonna be blunt with yeh, Charmy. She's gone, okay? It's her, or its yerself. Yer not doin' yerself any good actin' all mopey 'bout this. Right now, all yeh need to do is concentrate on figurin' out the answer to this mystery. If we can't uncover who murdered Cream, then it's over fer all of us."

As much as I didn't want to admit it... he had a point.

Is... is it really all over? I was commited to finding out who killed her but...

"What can I do?" I asked.

"Find the truth. Even if it hurts," Vector replied.

"But... what about any more clues? We ran out of them..."

"It's easy to think 'bout that... but trust me, let's have one more argument 'bout clues, and maybe... just maybe, yeh'll find one."

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So it's easy to say: 'Hey, decide who did it!'... but I feel like there's no more clues left..." Tails said. "Can we even find the killer with all that we have?"

"Hmm... I see what you mean, Tails!" Sonic replied. "Alright guys, let's review all the clues we've found up to this point!"

"Do we really have time for something like that?" Blaze added.

"Oh... please... please give us more time!" Tikal prayed. "Anyone? Please try and continue this... I don't want all of us to die..."

Everyone was convinced that there was no more clues left... But...

Was there?

I looked at my PAD. Nearly all my clues I used up to this point. However, I saw one that I recall distinctly... One that I remember HIM pointing out to me.

One that, as soon as I saw Vector's face, he knew what I had found.

"That's it... It's game over for us-" Tails moped before I pointed at him.

"No, that's wrong!"

I took a deep breath, seeing Vector from the corner of my eye. He knew that I had found my answer, and was waiting for me to tell it to the others.

"Tails, there's still one final clue left. Cream's dying message," I said.

"Dining... wait, what?" he asked, confused.

"Her dyin' message. She wrote it on the wall behind her," Vector added. "Egg Robo, show us a picture of the message."

"Wow, Vector's the one requesting an image? I'm sure popular today!" Egg Robo said. Once again, the four-sided screen came down as a picture of the dying message popped up.

"See? It says HPM, written in her own blood. Now, dontcha think this could be a clue 'bout the killer hidden in there?"

"Well, before we get too far into that, I need to ask something," Blaze interjected. "Are we REALLY sure Cream is the one who wrote it?"

"No, I don't think it can be argued... there's no question that Cream wrote that message," I replied.

"Oh? And tell me, why?"

"Because her left index finger had blood on it. That could only be because she used that finger to write the message."

"Oh... she broke her right wrist during the fight, so she'd have to use her left hand to write!" Sonic replied.

"I mean, sure, I think we can all agree Cream wrote it, but still... what the heck does HPM even mean?" asked Amy.

"Uhh... is it like a meaning or something?" Storm said. "Maybe it stands for like... Help Please Man?"

"Storm, that's ridiculous," Wave replied.

"Actually, Storm's right. It IS a meaning," Vector said.

"Then what does it stand for?" Knuckles replied.

"I dunno! That's the thing about the dying message..." I added. "It's just... so cryptic, so-"

"Reverse the message," was all Vector said.

"Huh?"

"Reverse the message. Then yeh'll see."

I was confused at what he meant. HPM... reverse the message. If he meant what I think he meant, then...

HPM becomes... MPH?


	10. Chapter 1 (Class Trial (Part 2))

_HPM becomes... MPH?_

"MPH?... how does that solve anything?" I asked.

"Oh COME on! Don't you know what that means?" Jet said in his usual mocking tone.

"Huh?"

"It's one of a few units of speed," Wave explained.

"Oh, right!" Tikal said. "Jet's the Ultimate Extreme Gear Racer! He should know all about the different kinds of units when it comes to speed! Please Jet! Tell us what it stands for!"

"Maaan, I thought you guys knew? Haven't you ridden a board or at LEAST been in a car? MPH stands for miles per hour!" Jet added.

Miles per hour?...

"Why would she write that?..." Knuckles asked. "A unit of speed seems so odd to write as your dying message..."

"What if she wrote it, not because it was a measurement, but because it meant something more," Vector explained. "What if she wrote it... as the killer's true identity?"

My eyes widened at that.

"What?! You mean to tell me we're skipping the clue part and going straight onto who did it?!" Amy exclaimed.

"Well? Tell us! Who killed her!" Jet added.

But... I didn't know. Miles per hour... who could have this name? Was someone here really named Miles? Was someone lying about their name? Someone like-

 _"No... oh no, it couldn't be..."_ I thought. It just couldn't...

But it matches up perfectly with what they've said about their name. They even said 'I can neither confirm nor deny it'.

There was only one thing I could do... one chance, and I can blow it all. I had to expose THEM... Cream's dying message revealed the killer's true name, which was related to the measurement, 'miles per hour'... Considering that there's only one person I can think of who could have a name like this..

It was worth the biggest leap ever.

"Here's my answer!" I said. "The key to solving this mystery was to reverse the text of Cream's dying message. HPM becomes MPH. Now, as Jet explained, MPH stands for miles per hour. While it might seem weird that Cream would write that, it's not because she wanted to confuse us. It's because she knew the killer's TRUE name... a name that contradicts what they've been calling themselves this whole time... wouldn't you agree... 'Tails'?"

"Wh... what?!" Tails sputtered out.

"HEY, HEY!" Sonic yelled out. "This isn't a fucking joke, is it?! Are you... are you actually trying to say TAILS is the one who did it?!"

Tails looked nervous as he grabbed one of his tails. "I-I.. What the hell are you talking about, Charmy?! That's just a huge assumption to make! I've told you that Tails is my name! Sonic can attest to that!"

"Yeah, it is! Whatever you're pulling, it's sick! It's sick and I want you to stop it! Accuse anyone, but don't FUCKING assume Tails did it, you piece of shit!"

"No, it's not an assumption," Vector said. "She wrote MPH reversed on the wall behind her as she leaned up against it. In that position, she couldn't write normally, so I imagine she had to reverse her message. In fact, yeh try it for yourself. Yer message will just be like the one she wrote."

"T-That sounds like a stretch! I mean... I'M the killer?! You can't... you can't say SHIT like that!" Tails sputtered out, looking more enraged as he held his fist up.

"Y-Yeah! You've got it all wrong! Tails would never kill anyone!" Sonic defended. I only shook my head... it seemed like no matter what, he would do anything to deny the truth...

"Then if yer not the killer, Tails, why didja try to destroy evidence?" Vector asked.

"Huh?... what do you mean?" Tails asked.

"Yeh know what I'm talkin' 'bout, right Charmy? The evidence yeh saw in the trash room?"

I scratched my chin... I knew there were two things that proved Tails was guilty...

"You mean the tip of the glove I found laying on the ground by the incinerator, right?" I asked. "Not to mention as well, there was a bit of white fur a few feet away from it too."

"When the killer slit Cream's throat, they must have gotten some of it on their glove," Vector began. "And so, to dispose of it because it was covered in the victim's blood, they threw it in the incinerator. As fer the fur... well, as we said, the killer was someone who can shed, right?"

"But one piece of the glove burned off and got left behind..." Blaze commented.

"And the killer didn't notice. If they had, they most certainly woulda panicked. Isn't that right, Tails?"

"Wh-Wh-Wha..." was all that Tails sputtered out, looking more and more shocked.

"No! No, I don't accept this! It could be anyone's glove! It could be anyone's fur!" Sonic said, clearly starting to panic.

"Sonic does bring up a good point however," Espio said. "One scrap of a glove and white fur isn't enough to conclude that Tails did it."

"Yeah... Tails isn't the only one that wears gloves and has some white fur," Tikal added.

"Th-that's right! Nearly all of us wear gloves, and there's still plenty of people here who have white fur!" Tails argued back, pointing at me as he grit his teeth. "That means it's still too much of a stretch!"

"Exactly! Charmy Bee.. Damn you... damn you, damn you, damn you! You deserve to bite the dust for even thinking that you could get away with accusing Tails!" Sonic added. "With those two things, you can't say for sure who it belongs to!"

"You're right," I replied. "Saying that the gloves and the fur means Tails did it isn't enough. But there are other points too..."

"Are yeh finally startin' to understand? The answers to all the riddles are right here," Vector said directly towards me.

"Yeah... I think so..."

"Well, Charmy?! I'm waiting! Show me the proof! Otherwise, this only shows that you were bluffing this whole time!" Sonic said, clearly still in denial.

The burnt remains of the glove, as well as the fur... There was something about it that we need to pay attention about...

 _"They do have a point... I can't say for certain he was responsible but..."_ I thought to myself, remembering how the trash room worked. And how... it was disposed of.

"To understand why Tails is the one being accused, we need to take a look at the fur scattered along the floor," I began. "Now, as we all know, the way the trash room works is that there's a large pit that can, usually, only be crossed by someone opening up the bridge to the other side. The only person who can do that is the person in charge of cleaning duty, where Egg Robo gives them the password to open up the bridge. Now, when it comes to people who can fly, they're not allowed to cross to the other side. However, I imagine it was allowed to make finding out the murderer more difficult."

"So, what's your point?!" Tails retorted back.

"Let's say that Tails was able to fly to the other side and dispose of the evidence. What explains all the white fur I imagine... was the shedding that was caused when he began to use his tails to fly back to the other side."

"Incorrect! Remember, YOU can fly too, Charmy! I know you can't shed, but remember, there's still a lot of people here that have white fur! I still stand by that I NEVER entered that room, however, why not ask a few of the ACTUAL guilty people... like... Silver or Big!"

"Huh?!" Silver replied, taken off guard.

"Mr... Tails the Fox?" Big asked.

"Silver can fly to the other side using his ESP, but most importantly, the only person who can reach the other side without breaking the rules is the person on cleaning duty! And who was it on cleaning duty? Big, who HAS white fur just like me and so many others!"

"M-Mr. Tails! That's... that's not nice! I wouldn't do such a thing!..." Big began to cry.

"Yeah, stop ganging up on him, Tails!" Silver argued back. "Big wouldn't hurt anyone, and I had nothing to do with it either!"

"Stop lying, you two! We know it was either one of you, so you can just stop all these personal attacks on Tails!" Sonic continued to defend. "And you too, Vector and Charmy!"

"Jet... on how many layers of pathetic is this hedgehog on?" Wave asked.

"I think we've gotten past a number not on any kind of scale..." Jet replied.

I closed my eyes. It seems like Tails wanted to shift the blame to someone else... but by shifting the blame, he failed to realize there still was one way I know that he was the only one who could do it...!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"The only people who can get across the gap in the trash room..." Tails began, still looking angry. "...is either someone who can fly, or the person on cleaning duty!"

"Don't you even look at me! I wouldn't even dare!" Silver argued back.

"I know you're dumb enough to NOT do it, but there's still the person in charge of cleaning duty!" Sonic said.

"And IF they can't fly, then they'd have to get close to the incinerator! We proved Charmy couldn't do it, and I know Silver is too dumb to do it... so that only leaves... the person is charge of the trash!" Tails said.

"And the person in charge is... wait, me?!" Big replied. "Nooo! I didn't do it! I swear!"

However... from that fourth statement, I knew that was wrong... Tails said if they can't fly then they'd have to get close. Well, there's only one way to prove that.

"Are you listening, Charmy?! They'd have to get close!-" Tails said before I interrupted him.

"No, that's wrong!"

The room was silent as I was ready to prepare my final piece of evidence.

"There is one way we can tell it wasn't someone who doesn't fly. Egg Robo, can we have a little break?"

"A break?! What do you mean a break?!" the robot angirly said. "You don't BREAK in between a trial!"

"I think what he's sayin' is that with his piece of evidence, it should point to the blackened. However, it seems like he needs somethin'," Vector replied. "And I know what it is. Does it have to do with the fur?"

"Yeah. Here's what we're going to do. Everyone with white fur of any kind, includes feathers too, pluck some out, and then we'll compare it to the fur found in front of the incinerator."

"That would mean it would include me, Jet, Storm, Shadow, Silver, Tails, and Big, right?" Wave asked.

"W-What do you mean?! That's... you can't tell that!" Tails argued back, only sounding more anxious.

"Yer free to not do it, Tails," Vector replied. "But I hope yer aware yer diggin' yer grave doin' that,"

"Shut up with that slang, Vector!" Sonic argued. "Tails wouldn't do something so silly!"

However, the two tailed fox simply bit his lip as he walked forward, everyone plucking a bit of their own white fleece.

"I happened to get some of the white fur in case," Vector said. "Here yeh are, Charmy. Go on, compare."

Handing me the bag with some of the white fur, I compared them with the ones Shadow, Silver, Tails, Big, and the Babylon Rogues were holding out. Jet, Wave, and Storm were crossed off easily due to having feathers, Big's was too short, and Shadow and Silver's looked a bit like the one in the bag, but Tails' was the closest match in terms of length and color.

"You guys can go back to the stand now, but do you see now? If it weren't for Shadow and Silver's being just a few centimeters shorter and wasn't as white as the one in the bag, it'd put suspicion on them!" I said. "But Tails' is the closest match!"

"N-No! It's... it's poor lighting! That's why!" Tails argued back.

"No, it's not. This goes into my second point. Big, don't you remember when we checked out the incinerator and it was turned on?"

"Yeah... and I remember turning it off too..." Big replied.

"This means that someone came into there, left in a hurry, and forgot to turn it off. Shadow can't fly there, but even if Silver had to rush it, it would be harder for him to shed. But if your tails rotate fast to fly... then there's no reason to doubt that it was you!"

"W-Wait! Hold on!" Tails added, only getting angrier.

"What are you talking about?!" Sonic angrily said. "Tails, argue back! Tell him he's wrong! He has to be!"

"Do you have ANY idea how stupid you sound right now?! You... you can't be serious... I... I..."

It was silent as everyone had their eyes on Tails. And then...

"ARRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the fox screamed, hands to the air. "I'M NOT THE KILLER! YOU... YOU SHIT FOR BRAINS HAVE GOT IT ALL WRONG!"

"EXACTLY!" Sonic yelled back, taking deep breaths. "You... you god damn sons of bitches! All of you... I'll kill you... I'LL KILL ALL OF THE SONS OF BITCHES IN THIS ROOM FOR EVEN ACCUSING MY BEST BUD!"

"Enough with your little tantrum, hedgehog," Wave said through gritted teeth. "Admit it. Your 'best bud' is a murderer. Face the facts, or accept that you'll be killed alongside everyone else while he gets to get off scot free."

"I... no! I'll never accept it! Everything Charmy said is wrong! He made it up! He's the true killer!"

"Exactly! I'm sure if we argue more-" Tails said before Vector cut him off.

"So, yeh still won't admit it," the crocodile said. "BOTH yeh and Sonic still won't admit the truth. Fine. Charmy? I think now's the time yeh should review this incident one more time, and make Tails' crime perfectly clear. Maybe then, these two will admit it and we can end this."

"LISTEN TO ME!" Tails yelled. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, END THIS?! THERE'S NOTHING TO END!"

I could see tears starting to roll down Tails' face. But... I knew what I had to do.

"Say what you want, Tails. But all the questions have to be answered, and we have to find the truth!" I said.

"There's no truth to find! There's still a lot more we have to discuss... like... like what was Cream's reason to kill!" Sonic said out of desperation.

"We discussed that," Espio said. "Now, Sonic, I'll say this now. Hush, and let Charmy explain it all."

Sonic bit his lip.

"Alright everyone, listen closely, because here's what happened!" I began.

 **CLOSING ARGUMENT**

"Last night, the killer went to the room that Cream was staying in. The room in question happened to be my room. From what we can tell, Cream invited that person there for the sole purpose of wanting to kill them. So, when they entered inside, she attacked them with the knife she'd taken from the kitchen earlier. However, something happened that she wasn't prepared for. The killer, in a quick act, grabbed the fake machete that was in my room and used it to defend against Cream's attack. During the struggle after that first block, a strike from the machete broke Cream's right wrist. This impact caused her to lose her grip on the kitchen knife. And so, finding herself cornered, Cream panicked and ran into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. The killer went after her, but couldn't get the door open. What they didn't know was that my bathroom door got stuck easily, and there was a trick to opening it. Cream knew about that, but of course, the killer didn't know."

Coughing, I continued.

"So instead, the killer forced the door open, grabbed the knife... and slit her throat. But with what remaining life she had as she bled out... Cream wrote a dying message: MPH. To keep the killer from noticing, she wrote it on the wall behind her. And with that... I imagine she either bled out or choked on her blood... regardless, that slit throat was the cause of her death. Now, with Cream dead, the killer began quickly destroying the evidence. First, they got rid of their gloves, which was covered in the victim's blood. Next, they used my lint roller and cleaned up the entire area to make sure they got rid of any trace they had ever been there... Afterwards, the killer headed to the trash room to destroy their bloody gloves, using the incinerator. They were able to cross to the other side thanks to their tails which let them fly. Turning on the incinerator, they disposed of the gloves, but not with care it seems, because the tip burned onto the ground! And finally, when they headed back, their tails left shedding, and some fur was left in front of the incinerator... They thought they had gotten away with it, but it was these two that was their undoing..."

The room spun once again as I felt like everyone but Tails and I weren't there. I pointed right at him, the two tailed fox looking both scared, shocked, and with tears in his eyes.

"...isn't that right, Tails? Or, should I say, Miles?!" I said. I felt the room light up as the world around me became more clear. "That white fur you left behind... it was your undoing. It didn't match with anyone else, and the ones who could cross there are very limited."

"So, Sonic and Tails, do any of yeh object to anythin' that's been said?" Vector asked.

"Do I object?..." Tails said in a hushed tone before yelling. "Hell yes I object! I object, I object, I object!"

"That's right! I object too!" Sonic added. "Evidence...that's right! Where's your evidence?! You need proof! Without it, you can't seal the deal at all!"

"Exactly! It's all theories, and without evidence, it's all bullshit! It's bullshit and I refuse to accept it!"

Vector shook his head. "Well then, I think it's time to seal the deal, eh? This is the time where we present the evidence that proves you did it, no ifs, ands, or buts. Charmy, yeh know what I'm talkin' 'bout, right?"

I was confused... I have the evidence? I mean, surely everything we have is enough to-

Then I remembered the final thing we haven't presented.

"Lemme explain, when the killer removed the screws from the doorknob, they didn't use anything from yer room to do it. Instead, they must have used somethin' that belonged to them."

"No! I... I want you to shut up! All of you! Everyone here is a dumbass!" Tails yelled, sounding more frantic. "Dumbass! Dumbass! Dumbass! DumbassdumbassdumbassdumbassdumbassdumbassDUMBASS!"

"Exactly! You're all that!" Sonic said, continuing to defend his friend. "None of this makes sense, and it... it was Big or Charmy! I'm telling you it is!"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I had to open both of their eyes and finally make Tails' crime clear!

"Where's your proof?!" Tails said. "Are you kidding me? Not a chance! It wasn't me you stupid idiot! Stop lying and just... stop talking you dumbass bee! Shut up! Without evidence, it's all bullshit! It's bullshit and I refuse to acknowledge it!"

"This should prove it! The toolkit!" I said, pointing at Tails as I caught him off guard in the middle of his melt down. He grabbed his ears and pulled on them, more tears coming down from his eyes. "Remember what Vector said about the screws? Don't you think that a tool was used to remove them? Like... perhaps a screwdriver?"

"A 6-point Torx screwdriver to be exact, the same ones used on the doorknob, and the same one in the toolkit the boys got," Wave added. "I even checked, there were no tools anywhere. The only other ones I know about are the ones I have, but I make extra sure that those don't get used by anyone else."

"Yeah, and the toolkit in my room wasn't used at all!"

"Because the culprit didn't know it was your room... they thought it was Cream's," Knuckles said.

"Only the boys got toolkits, so the killer naturally assumed there wouldn't be one in the room," Tikal added.

"So then, who's toolkit DID the killer use then?" Jet asked. "Come on Tails, give me an answer."

"Dumbassdumbassdumbass!" Tails continued to scream.

"I think it was their own toolkit, boss!" Storm added.

"Dumbassdumbassdumbassdumbassdumbass!"

"If you don't mind, Tails... why don't you show us your toolkit? If I'm right, then the screwdriver will show some evidence of being used!" I said, pointing at him. "And while I'm at it, why not tell us your TRUE name?!"

"Dumbassdumbassdum- wait, huh?"

"Don't be ridiculous! Tails wouldn't do something like that! He doesn't have to! I know that he used it in his spare time!" Sonic argued back.

"Really now? Then Sonic, tell us when, where, and why he used it. Or Tails could answer that too, either or," Wave replied.

"And JUST so yeh know, 'I lost it' ISN'T an excuse at this point," Vector said.

"Dumbass..." Tails said, beginning to sob. "D-Dumbass..."

He lowered himself on the stand, covering his head with his arms as he continued to sob.

"Dumb..."

Tails then looked up at us, eyes red and mouth open wide in terror.

"...ass?"

Sonic simply looked shocked, looking like he was about to cry too.

"T-Tails?" he said weakly. "W-What are you implying?... Y-You... you didn't... really?..."

Wave lowered her head, smirking. "So, is that it? No rebuttal, Tails?"

The fox didn't reply. All he did was grab his PAD and turn it on, showing us the screen. As we watched the startup of the PAD, a name flashed up on the screen:

 ** _"Miles Prower"_**

"...then it seems we're done here," Blaze added.

Tails only put down the PAD as he still kept his look of horror. Sonic shook his head.

"N-No... no... we're... we're not done..." he said, no longer angry. The hedgehog held the sides of the stand, eyes wide just like Tails as he began to sweat.

"Ho ho ho..." Egg Robo said. "It seems like you've reached your verdict! Then, it's time to cast our votes!"

"No... no wait! Please! Hold on!"

"No waiting! No holding on! Let's begin! Now, you all have a lever in front of you-"

Our stands began to change as a set of seventeen levers were in front of us, each with a picture of ourselves on each lever.

"...with this, use it to make your selection!" Egg Robo continued. "And just to let you know... you HAVE to select someone! You don't want to be punished for something so minor, right? Then let's get excited! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What will it be? What will it be?!"

I could see Sonic and Tails' face grow even more terrified as we all made our selection. I grabbed the lever with Tails' face on it as a minute later, all the levers went away. Just then, a large slot machine came down, shocking us.

On it was a picture of Egg Robo wearing a suit, the logo of the machine saying 'Egg Robo VOTE". The lever on the side was pulled by the robot in question as pictures of all of us raced through each side of the machine. The slots soon slowed down as they all landed on a triple Tails. Rings began to spill out as the giant L.E.D. lights under the ring slot said "GUILTY".

The slot machine shot back up, and I knew things were finally over...

...if only I knew how wrong that was.

 **CLASS TRIAL #1**

 **END**

* * *

As the trial came to an end, Egg Robo finally plopped out of his seat and stood in the middle of our circle of stands.

"Uh-oh, spaghetti-o! While we quote pop culture for this one second, I'm happy to announce that you all got it right on the money!" the robot said. "Our very first blackened, the one that killed Cream the Rabbit was none other than Tails the Fox! Or, as he's REALLY known, Miles Prower!"

Tails simply had a look of shock on his face, unable to move, speak, or even shed a tear.

"N-No... I... I refuse to believe... you all set him up!" Sonic yelled.

"No we didn't, Mr. Sonic! In fact, I'm VERY angry with you! Our vote was not unanimous, as Sonic the Hedgehog voted for Charmy Bee! Now... normally, our class trial votes are to be unanimous. But... if someone picks the wrong answer even if the blackened has been exposed... then they will be executed!"

Sonic let out a gasp of horror.

"...but since this is your first class trial, Mr. Sonic, I'll let you off the hook! Just don't let it happen next time!"

It seemed that... even in the end, Sonic refused to accept Tails being the murderer... I didn't know if that made him loyal to Tails, or blind to the truth...

"Hold on a second..." Tails spoke up.

"Tails?..." Sonic asked quietly. "Did... did you really do it?"

"S-Sonic..." Tails began to sniffle. "I'm... I'm sorry!"

"I... I don't believe it..." Amy said, hand over her mouth.

"You son of a bitch! How DARE you even do that to a girl! Have you lost all morals?!" Shadow growled.

"I... I didn't have a choice!" Tails continued to cry. "Cream came at me first! It was kill... or be killed! That's why I killed her first! I thought I was doing a good thing because... because what if she attacked someone else?!"

"T-Tails..." Sonic's voice cracked saying this as he hugged his best friend, the two of them sobbing.

"I... I was just unlucky... to think that someone else would have been in this situation..."

We all stared at Tails... even if he was the murderer... he DID have a point.

"E-Egg Robo...! Do... do you expect me to accept... accept my death?!"

Sonic now cried harder, realizing what this truly meant now.

"T-Tails... Tails no!" He held Tails' face. "Think about everything we have yet to do! Think about all the adventures we have left to go on! Think about that plane we promised to make when we graduated! THINK ABOUT THEM! Do you mean... it's all over?!"

"S-SONIC!..."

Seeing them now... even if we made the right choice...

I felt sick. I felt like we'd be better off if we'd been wrong. What happened showed us the truth... the truth that Cream was trying to frame me.

But even if that was true... I can't say she was wrong.

Because of the mastermind...

"It's all that video's fault," I said. Everyone, including Sonic and Tails, looked up at me. "Even I couldn't handle what I saw in there. If I was Cream, and the video actually had something to do with me, I can't even imagine... She told me she was scared, not wanting to stay here anymore. The one thing that mattered to her more than anything... Her mom. Her poor, aging mom, now forever on the ground, with no daughter to come and rescue her... To see something like that happen to her... It was Cream's worst nightmare. And that's why, for the mother that meant so much to her... That's why she betrayed me. She lied to me from the very beginning. And Tails? I think she did the same to you too... is that why?"

Tails sniffed. "I... On the days you weren't with her, she was talking to me... And... And I... I... I liked her so... I told her my full name during one time that we hung out..."

"Tails..." Sonic said, closing his eyes as more tears fell and his sobs continued.

"And there's nothing we can do to ask her now..." I continued. "Because once you're dead, that's it..."

"Whew, mama!" Egg Robo said, ruining the mood. "I thought gardeners were peaceful! At least, that's what social media tells us anyway! They deal with all these dangerous tools and big machines that can destroy someone into pieces! Maybe I should get one myself... I mean, to try and kill someone just because of their mother! Can you say mama's girl anyone? And to think she seemed so nice and lovely on the outside, but on the inside, it was like an episode of Mobius' Scariest Criminals!"

"What did you say?..."

"I understand, really I do! Yup yup! You're in utter despair thanks to Cream's betrayal, right? Compassion, intimacy, love... the stronger those feelings, the stronger the despair is when they collapse!"

"Stop... STOP FUCKING WITH US! This is all your fault! Cream being forced to do something like that... and Tails being your little 'blackened', all of it... everything...! It's all your fault!"

Suddenly, in a frenzy, I lunged at Egg Robo.

"Charmy, no!" Espio yelped out.

"That's how Rouge got offed you idiot!" Jet added.

However, before I could swing... HE stopped me.

"That's enough," Vector said, holding my fist.

"Lemme go, Vector! This little egg deserves it!" I argued back. However, Vector's grip was like iron, strong enough that I was sure it would leave a bruise.

"If yeh really want to make her enemies pay for what they've done, yeh need to let it go fer now."

I was silent, and then...

"Dammit!" I yelled, standing down.

"Ooh, that was a close one!" Egg Robo replied. "I thought I was going to be the next scrambled egg dish! Just barely avoided punishment! So many people doing that this trial it seems... But speaking of that... since you all revealed the identity of the killer during the class trial, it's time for the part you, and the readers of course, have been waiting for! The blackened, Miles Prower, will receive his punishment!"

"Punishment?..." Tails asked, moving his head from Sonic's grip. "Y-You mean... you mean EXECUTION?!"

He then grabbed his head, pulling his fur.

"No!.. NO PLEASE! HOLD ON!" Sonic said, standing up and getting on his knees. "I'll do anything! PLEASE! DON'T EXECUTE HIM!"

"I... I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" Tails cried. "I had to kill her! I plead self-defense! I didn't mean to do it-"

"HOW was that self-defense?" Blaze asked.

"Huh?"

"When she attacked you, you had all the reason to run back to your room and hide. However, when you forced your way into the bathroom, did you or did you not use your very own toolkit? You went out of your way to go back to your room and get it instead of hiding once she shut herself in there. Then you broke in, and killed her. Am I wrong? You had so many chances to stop what you were doing. But you chose not to. Is it true that maybe you had an intent to murder?"

Sonic didn't even come to Tails' defense this time. He simply pounded his fist on the ground.

"T-That's not-" Tails said, before I spoke up.

"Stop it. I've had enough of this."

"Oh, are you sure? Weren't you super close to Cream? He killed your precious Cream. Don't you understand?" Blaze said.

"I can't say Tails is to blame. I don't plan on blaming Cream either. Because the one we should be blaming..." I pointed at Egg Robo. "...is HIM!"

"Huh?" the robot said.

"If it weren't for you, this wouldn't have happened to Cream OR Tails! We shouldn't be fighting each other... we should be fighting this egg monstrosity!"

"Uh-oh! Did you awaken to your sense of justice! Too bad! You're the most unjustice-y person ever! And there's nothing more boring and stupid than someone with a sense of justice! After all, think about all the wonderful nations of the world. Aren't they the ones that claim world peace and want to police the world yet cause wars, drop bombs, kill civilians, and their citizens buy it all for that sweet nationalist pride? Is THAT the kind of justice that's awakened in you, Mr. Bee?"

"Just... shut up!"

"Well, more importantly... Let's hurry up to what everyone's been waiting for! The punishment!"

"NO!" Sonic ran in front of Tails, shielding him. "I... I won't let you!"

"Mr. Sonic..." Egg Robo's red eye glowed bright. "You're already on thin ice as you are. Make one final step and I REALLY will punish you too. Do you understand?"

Sonic bit his lip as he and Tails stared at each other, began to sob, and hugged.

"I'm begging you!" Tails screamed in between sobs. "Please! DON'T DO THIS!"

"Hey! Come on now!" Egg Robo replied, annoyed. "No more begging! No more excuses! You broke the rules, now it's time to pay the price because society demands it!"

"STOP! PLEASE!"

"Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Miles 'Tails' Prower, the Ultimate Sidekick!"

"I don't wanna die... I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Tails screamed, looking up at the ceiling. I looked at the others, some of them looking even more horrified as we didn't know what to expect.

"TAILS!" Sonic screamed. "TAILS, PLEASE NO! NO NO NO NO!"

"Let's give it everything we've got! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIMEEEEEEEE!" Egg Robo said, laughing manically.

 **"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"** Tails screamed, ripping the fur straight off of his head. The fur on his face was an utter mess as tears and snot drooled down from his face onto the floor. We watched as Egg Robo went back to his seat, and a red button came up from the floor. Grabbing a mallet, he hit the button and...

The room went dark.

Suddenly, the curtains opened up to reveal a screen. An 8-bit black and white sprite of Tails against a red background popped up as a song similar to something like a theme for a game over began to play. Soon, words began to display.

 **"GAME OVER**

 **Miles 'Tails' Prower has been found guilty for the murder of Cream the Rabbit.**

 **COMMENCING EXECUTION!"**

The sprite of Tails was being dragged away by a sprite of Egg Robo as when the screen pixelized... it began.

* * *

 _Tails continued to sob and wiped his eyes as he stared into the faces of his classmates. Suddenly, one of the walls behind him opened up as a collar snapped into place around his neck. He held his hand out towards Sonic, who tried to grab it, but was too slow as Tails was being dragged away down the corridor by the neck._

 _As he sped off quickly, he finally was able to get up as he found himself in a peaceful and calm green hill._

 _"Where am I?..." Tails asked. Suddenly, Sonic appeared._

 _"Sonic! You... you came to rescue me all along!"_

 _He ran up to the hedgehog, who was holding some kind of remote. The fox sighed, thinking that the 'execution' thing was simply just a bluff._

 _"I found this device called a debug machine!" Sonic replied. "What should I do with it?"_

 _"Oh, let me-" Tails replied, before he was clamped into place._

 _"Sonic?..."_

 _"Oh... I know little buddy, why don't YOU be my experiment?" Sonic said in a different tone of voice. He lifted his head, revealing Egg Robo's face where Sonic's would have been. Tails' eyes widened as he began to cry._

 _The Egg Robo-Sonic held the remote tight, and pressed the button._

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _Tails Abuse_**

 _Suddenly, a monitor crashed onto Tails' head. Tails screamed in pain, only for the Egg Robo-Sonic to mash the button as hard as he could, tens upon hundreds of monitors coming down from the sky and crashing straight onto Tails' head. The fox couldn't even scream as it was just hit after hit. By the time everyone else had arrived, a large gate preventing them from intervening, Tails' head was bloodied and he bled from the mouth too. He couldn't even say anything, but the Egg-Robo Sonic wasn't done yet._

 _He pressed another button as suddenly, from the sea in the distance, a large number of piranhas came jumping from the sky and landing on Tails' body. They chomped on him from head to toe, leaving his once yellow fur now bloodied and bruised. Tails could barely muster the strength to even scream, and by the time his legs were free, the fox simply twitched as it seemed like he was about to collapse at any second._

 _And then, a bumper popped up, causing him to bounce forward._

 _And then another, and another._

 _Surrounding Tails, a large number of bumpers forming a sphere began to close in, bouncing Tails' almost lifeless body around like a ragdoll as the sphere of bumpers began to rise up. Tails' body only bounced more and more as the bumpers closed in on him more and more._

 _However, in one last act of desperation, Tails held his arm out, looked at everyone with a look of horror, and let out his last dying words._

 _"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOONICCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!"_

 _The bumpers crushed Tails, the sound of bones cracking and flesh exploding as the bumpers completely crushed him. Blood sprayed everywhere and coated everyone and everything. The once green hills were now coated in blood, and the faces and clothes of everyone who watched had what was left of Tails on them: a bloody mess. Everyone looked on with a different expression._

 _Many like Charmy, Tikal, Amy, Big, Storm, and Silver had their mouth wide open._

 _Others like Shadow, Espio, Knuckles, Jet, Wave, Vector, and Blaze simply looked on, mouth closed, but sweating profusely from fear with eyes open wide._

 _And Sonic... poor Sonic could only cry, no words being said at what he saw as in his hands was Tails' finger: the only thing he had left of Tails._

 _Even Egg Robo looked afraid as the bumpers began to spread apart, displaying Tails' face masked across one of the bumpers. No eyes, no teeth, just the hollow mask of a once living boy as the smell of blood filled the room, and what was left of Tails was... pieces._

* * *

What we saw... that was the true face of despair.

If we couldn't call it that, what else could we call it?

"Woohoo! Extreme!" Egg Robo exclaimed. "MAAAN, I feel so pumped up, I could do 100 pushups right now!"

Big was the first to react. "U-U-UWAHHHHH!" he screamed, hands on his face.

"Y-You... you absolute fucking monster! When you meant execution, I thought like... I didn't expect that!" Jet screamed in a high-pitched tone, falling to the ground and scooting away from the stands.

"I... I can't take this anymore!" Tikal cried, sobbing as she buried her face in her hands.

"That... that was just a kid..." Storm said. "And... no, I can't even say it..."

The albatross rubbed his face, taking a deep breath.

However, none of us could even compare to how Sonic was doing right now. He simply sat on his knees, Tails' finger being the only thing in his hands.

"T-Tails?..." he said, whimpering. "Tails?"

And then, he vomited.

"AUGHHHHHHHHHH! **TAILSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!** " Sonic screamed, hysterically sobbing. "MY BUDDY! URAAAGHHHH!"

All we could do is watch as Sonic screamed hysterically, sobbing, cursing, smashing his fist on the ground. This was... a breakdown I never thought I could see someone have. His screams bounced across every wall in the court room, invading our skulls, guaranteeing that they'd be the screams we'd hear in our sleep.

"Do we really have to keep doing this?" Amy cried. "I... look at my darling Sonic!..."

"Well, IF you don't like it..." Egg Robo replied, his red eye getting brighter. "...then all you have to do is swear to cut off ties with the outside world and accept living here. But that's only if every single one of you can get on board with that... Ho ho ho! Thankfully, I'm so happy to see that Sonic has entered the phase of true despair, and if you don't want to end up like Tails... then you know what to dooooo! HO HO HOOOO!"

Silver only looked away, covering his ears.

"I... I can't hear anymore... I've never heard screams so awful..." he said as Sonic continued to scream and cry.

"Man... fuck you!" Shadow said. "Look how Sonic turned out... why the FUCK are you doing this evil shit to us?!"

"EVIL?! Every Villians is Lemons? No! You make it sound like I'm some awful, dark, world ending type of guy! Or, world ending type of egg if you prefer!"

"Why have you put someone like myself through this situation?" Knuckles asked.

"It seems like you're trying to use common sense to make sense of something that doesn't make sense! It's like trying to 100% Sonic Labyrinth! I just don't think it's possible..."

"Piece of shit!..." Shadow continued. "I don't know who you are but I'm gonna pound your egg ass into this ground!"

"Ho ho ho! You must hate me a lot to get so angry, huh? But if you do that, you're barking up waaaay up the wrong tree, my little black hedgehog friend! What happened, happened because more than one of you decided you wanted to get out, right? No matter how much time passes, you can't cut free of your regrets from the outside world. You're to blame!"

"'Course we can't cut free you fucking idiot!" Jet yelled. "Being trapped in a crazy ass place like this!..."

"Hmm... you're trapped, are you? Well, once you learn all of the mysteries of this zone, your thinking will change for sure. Soon you'll be thinking, 'Boy, isn't it so wonderful how we all get to live here forever?'"

"What are you trying to say?" Espio asked.

"I feel like there's some kinda deeper meanin' hidden in there," Vector replied. "Just like before... where yeh said that EVERYONE was waitin' to see Tails get punished. Who do yeh mean when yeh say, 'everyone'?"

"Sorry, I've ran out of answers for today!" Egg Robo replied. "I need to save some of the fun for later! HO HO HO!"

Just like that, Egg Robo vanished. He left us there in our despair, and he left Sonic a screaming, crying mess. Even after he was gone, we simply stood there, watching Sonic still breaking down. He showed no signs of stopping, no signs that he would get up, no signs that he would stop crying and screaming, no signs that he would ever be the same Sonic we once knew. As much as we wanted to help, we knew our efforts would be in vain. No amount of 'I'm sorry' can fix the trauma of witnessing your best friend confess to murder and be executed for it.

We were scared of being alone.

Tikal, Amy, and Big cried softly, knowing there wasn't much they could do. No one could speak, our faces were cold and our voices were dead.

In that moment however...

"Charmy?" Vector asked. "I need to talk to yeh,"

"...with Sonic still screaming?" I replied.

"It's important. Before we head back, there's somethin' I wanna talk about."

"...it's about Cream, isn't it?"

"Surprised yeh figured it out quick. I told yeh before the class trial started... yeh had to figure out the mystery of this case yerself."

"You wanted me to realize how Cream betrayed me myself, didn't you? The thought... I'll be honest, it didn't cross my mind. I feel like such a fool, becoming such an easy target like that."

"Cream meant to double-cross yeh, that's a fact that'll never change. But even until the very end, she wasn't sure of her decision. That's why... as she lay dyin', she thought of yeh."

"Huh? How? You can't say anything like this... there's no way you can know now! Only Cream would know and... we can't ask her."

"Even if yeh can't ask her, yeh can infer it, don't yeh think? Her final thought was how she could protect yeh."

"What? Is that why she wrote Tails' name?"

"Yeah. The fact she used her dyin' breath to write that proves it. If she didn't care, she wouldn't have wrote that message."

"Well... maybe she wanted to get back at the person who killed her?"

"That's a possibility. But I dun think that's what it was. She was... uncertain. She didn't know if she could kill someone or deceive yeh. And that's why her plan failed. It was her hesitation that attracted failure. It's a bit ironic, dontcha think?"

"But... why are you telling me all of this?"

"'Cause yer the type of person who can overcome this. 'Cause yeh can move past the deaths of yer friends, the deaths of Cream and Tails, and keep movin' forward. Without someone like that, the others wouldn't be able to break free of such a desperate situation."

Vector looked over at the screaming Sonic.

"...even if Sonic is a lost cause..."

"But move past? I... I couldn't do that. I'm... I'm going to carry them with me for the rest of my life! How could I move on... from that? Cream and Tails... I'll carry them with me forever, and... and Rouge too..."

"So, instead of forgettin' them, yer choosin' the hard route. Well, I have high expectations fer yeh,"

Vector smirked softly, the first smile I'd seen since his introduction.

"By the by, I have to admit since I'm a lil' curious. How didja know I wanted to talk to yeh 'bout Cream?"

"Oh well..."

There was only one thing I could tell him.

"I'm psychic."

"What?!" Vector looked unhinged.

"Ha ha, kidding. I just have a pretty good intuition."

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1**

Surviving the game of death

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Sonic the Hedgehog

Knuckles the Echidna

Amy Rose

Shadow the Hedgehog

Vector the Crocodile

Espio the Chameleon

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Blaze the Cat

Jet the Hawk

Wave the Swallow

Storm the Albatross

Tikal the Echidna

Big the Cat

 **Deceased**

Cream the Rabbit

Rouge the Bat

Miles 'Tails' Prower

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **(AN: And so, Chapter 1 comes to a tragic end, and our first execution commences. Miles 'Tails' Prower, the Ultimate Sidekick, murdered Cream the Rabbit, and his execution, Tails Abuse, is based on the Youtube series of the same name, where people attempt to kill Tails using various manners such as the debug mode featured in Classic Sonic games. And as we close one chapter, another one begins soon...**

 **And more despair only follows in Chapter 2: The Ties that Bring Us Together)**


	11. Chapter 2 (Daily Life 1)

**(AN: Welcome back for more Despair Hill Zone, where we begin Chapter 2... after the ride that was Chapter 1, we still have a lot to go, because despair always arrives on time...**

 **What doesn't though, is this fic, I'm sorry for this being super late, but after posting the class trial chapters, I decided to take a break, which I only became more lazy of as a result. But no more! Now we're back to more DHZ, and things are gonna be happy now!**

 **...right?)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo set down his peduncle of grapes into a bowl, the last of the fruit in his mouth as he grabbed the Game Gear on the table next to him._

 _"Man," he said, chewing on his grapes. "Wasn't that last chapter a riot? I mean, an execution like that? Brutal! But I like it that way!"_

 _The robot continued to tap away on the Game Gear, absorbed in his game. "It's so fun though. Just like this game, it's not over yet! In fact, do you think people learn from murder? They don't! I mean, imagine if someone made a movie where only one person died? I think I'd decry it as a rip off! No no no, in fact, our fun is only beginning! Like, don't you wanna see how Sonic is faring after I gave his best bud a punishment?"_

 _Egg Robo went back to playing his game. "Man... Sonic Triple Trouble really is underrated..."_

* * *

…

All I did was stare at my wall.

This day, this accursed day... I didn't think it was over. But now that it soon loomed closer and closer towards tomorrow, I don't think I wanted to see how tomorrow would fare.

What I saw, what WE saw... I don't think any living person should even have to deal with the horror of it all. Tails' screams, his pain, and the moment that we all watched him die in front of our eyes, and Sonic breaking down from the hero we knew him as into a shell of his former self.

I still don't think I was okay with what happened, and to be honest... I don't think I WANT to be okay with what happened.

But no matter how long I stared at my wall...

"...I still need to use the bathroom," I grumbled, getting up and buzzing towards the bathroom. I stopped though when I was right in front of it. There was still a chance that Cream was still in there. So, I closed my eyes, and opened the door to find...

My bathroom was spotless.

"...she's gone. She's really gone."

It was almost like there was never anything there. Almost like... every last sign of Cream's existence has disappeared without a trace. It was like Egg Robo said after we'd finished up and after Shadow and Silver had to take the still sobbing Sonic to the elevator... he would dispose of all corpses.

I didn't even have time to mourn Cream, Rouge, or Tails... And I know that's why he did it. It was nothing more than a bad joke and a sickening dream...

...two things I wished were true.

* * *

After using the restroom, I knew it wasn't nighttime JUST yet, so I came back to the dining hall to meet with everyone. Buzzing there, I saw that everyone was sat at where they once were, only this time, Cream, Rouge, and Tails were clearly absent.

"Sorry I'm late everyone," I said. "I had to use the bathroom."

"Charmy... are you okay? You look sad..." Amy asked me. As I took my seat, I saw... Sonic. The poor hedgehog's eyes were wide open, drained of any emotion, drained of any color, and drained of any kind of warmth. He simply looked straight ahead, not caring about anyone around him.

"I'm okay. Cream's body is gone from my bathroom. It's sad I know, but I can't turn away from her death. But... Sonic..."

"I know. It's hard on him but all we have to do is give him space," Knuckles said.

"Well, I feel it's a time like this where our leader should give us advice on what to do from here!" Silver said.

Sonic simply looked at us with the same empty, traumatized look. "..."

"...or not I guess. Well, what should we do now? Sonic's like, catatonic. Who should be leading us? I feel like Vector should! He's the biggest and tallest one here!"

"I think that's the cat..." Storm replied. "And as we know, I think HIM being the leader would just suck!"

"I don't wanna be the leader..." Big bemoaned.

"Look look, we'll do... somethin' 'bout this. Fer now, we should just-" Vector began before we were interrupted by Amy wrapping her arms around Sonic and crying.

"Oh!... I can't take this anymore! Oh, my Darling Sonic! I'm so sorry about Tails!" she cried. "I just want you to know that if there's anything we can do... anything at all!..."

The once mortified and broken hedgehog, who just a couple of seconds ago displayed no emotion, began to grit his teeth as he curled up his fists.

"Your... darling... Sonic?..." he said, turning around to look at Amy with malice in his eyes.

"S-Sonic?..."

"I'm not... your **FUCKING DARLING SONIC!** "

Roaring, he got up and violently pushed Amy towards one of the tables. The pink hedgehog's head hit one of the chairs and she hissed as we all got up, some angrily reprimanding him while others tried to grab onto him. I wanted to say something, but everyone else did the speaking for me.

"You fucking blue idiot!" Shadow said, restraining Sonic. "What the fuck is your problem?!"

"Sonic, stand down!" Knuckles added as he helped Shadow.

"WHAT FU-FUCKING PROBLEM?! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! GIVE ME BACK T-TAILS!" Sonic replied through sobs as Espio and Knuckles restrained him to the ground.

"How dare you treat Amy like that!" I heard Espio scold as Vector and Tikal got Amy back on her feet.

"Are you okay Ms. Amy Rose?" Big asked Amy, fists up to his face.

She held her arm. "Ow ow ow... I'm... I'm fine..."

"Amy, I knew ya wanted to help but Sonic's psyche was damaged in a way that we can't do anythin' 'bout," Vector said. "That means that we can't do anythin' 'bout how he's grievin' the most important person in his life."

I frowned, but just then, a familiar person began to laugh. It was Wave, getting up from her table with her hands on her hips.

"Well, it's been fun overhearing you all talk, but I think I now need to speak up. So, does this convince you about how we need to 'work together'?" the swallow mocked. "Are we supposed to feel better about positivity?"

"What do you mean?" Tikal asked.

"We were already working together and yet, someone was still murdered. And now look. We have a case of a psychologically damaged hedgehog now wanting revenge, so anyone can STILL betray us at this point. Now that it's happened once, it's only a matter of time before it begins again."

"Exactly!" Jet added. "Remember, Cream made the first move! The Babylon Rogues only stick together because that's out motto! To us, we couldn't care about what happens to you in this killing game, our morals aren't gonna be lost to some BS like 'working together'!"

"Yeah! And I always follow what the boss wants!" Storm replied. "Who knows what can happen next, but I'm not gonna get killed in some dumb way!"

"I mean... if we work together against the mastermind, then nobody should have a reason to kill, right?" Tikal asked. Wave scoffed upon hearing her response.

"Keep dreaming, pacifist girl. We're going to stay in the real world. It's not as easy as 'working together'. Not everyone has the same agenda that you have."

Big tilted his head. "What do you mean?..."

"I think what she means is..." Blaze began. "Is that the mastermind has more power than we ever suspected. Mainly, what Wave said about 'having an agenda', is that not everyone wants to fight the mastermind. They want to think about themselves and how much they want to get out of here, so they kill for their own selfish desire, and because the mastermind just points them into the thing that will help them kill. The second is what they've been able to accomplish. Not just with convincing others to commit murder, but they also took over Green Hills, which was supposed to be well defended, then modified it to fit their desire. Then, there's Egg Robo, which they created to be more advanced that any robot made today, and which they use to provide our every need. Finally, the execution."

"Even that bugged me too..." Silver said. "How... did he do something like that? When I hear the word execution, I think like, lethal injection, electric chair, firing squad, but not... THAT."

"I believe that everything here has planned out to every small detail. As a result, the execution we saw was the result of someone who most likely has an execution planned for each and every one of us should we want to kill. This...is no ordinary psychopath. I believe that defying them could be more dangerous than anything you could imagine."

"Then what are we supposed to do? Naturally, we must fight back against this kind of tyranny, but with such advanced details..." Knuckles murmured.

"T-To kill that piece of shit!" Sonic said, now out of breath.

"Well, anyone who truly does any to escape, they have to follow the rules," Wave added. "In that case, the only option is to deceive those around you and win the game."

However, Tikal stared down at her feet and shook her head.

"No..."

"No? No what?"

"I... I don't want to live... if it means killing someone else to do it! I... I don't want to kill anyone else!"

"Anyone else?" Espio asked.

"Don't you understand...? It's because... Tails died because we all voted for him, right? And look, poor Sonic is the way he is right now because of it... because of what we did! It's no different from us killing him ourselves! This... it goes against any and all morals I have!"

I could see Sonic's eyes widened as he listened closely to what Tikal was saying.

"Tikal..." Amy replied. "I understand what you mean. However, if we voted wrong, then Tails would be the only one left surviving. That's not what you want, right? Not to mention, Tails would be in the shoes of my Darling Sonic..."

"Look, Tikal," I began. "You're not to blame. Not you, not Tails, and not Cream. The mastermind is the one responsible for everything. We had no choice but to vote, and I don't even want to think about what would happen if we said no. And in the end, it was Egg Robo that killed Tails! So, don't waste your anger on yourself. Direct it at the mastermind!"

Tikal had nothing to say, until Sonic began to softly chuckle.

"I get it... I get it now..."

"Huh? Sonic?"

"Tikal... your words... it... ha ha... it makes so much sense..."

Sonic raised his head up, but rather than looking emotionally scarred, he had a look of... hysteria on his face.

"Ha ha ha... but it's not like it even matters anymore, Tails is dead... and the world took my best friend today..."

"Sonic... you're scaring me..."

He got up and forced Shadow and Knuckles' grips as hard as he could, walking up to Tikal.

"Am I, Tikal? Am I scaring you? Am I that scary now that I realize the truth, and now that I realize that the world deserves nothing than punishment by my own hands? Then so be it. But... heh heh heh... this mastermind will know what it means to mess with me... Ha ha ha… HA HA HA!"

Sonic continued to laugh as he walked away from the dining hall. We could still hear his laugh as he just walked further and further away.

And then, a familiar bell rang out.

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The usual zone crest displayed as the familiar mug of a certain robot soon popped up seconds later.

"Mm, ahem," Egg Robo began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Oh, and one OTHER thing... It's SOOOO clear that you were trying to make yourselves feel better and justify what you did. See you, see you, see you, and uh... okay well I DON'T see you, but you get my drill! That's how much I can see you, even when you try to hide! Now pay attention and remember this well! The burden of judging others is a heavy one to bear. So, be well aware of your actions! Order and stability rely on the sacrifice and responsibility of everyone! Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

"Argh... more confusing as fuck statements from that bad egg," Jet scoffed.

"Is he... trying to say it's our fault for what happened? Jeez, messed up..." Silver added.

"That piece of shit," Shadow crossed his arms. "Who does he think he is, eh?!

All I could do was stare at the now blank monitor.

As we all left back to our rooms, the day finally drew to a close. A day that saw the deaths of three of our friends... Cream, Rouge, and Tails.

But I knew that this...

This was only the beginning.

And that our despair has only just begun.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents...**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

 **The Ties that Bring Us Together**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE**

That next morning, after Egg Robo made his morning announcement, he actually called us all to the gym. We were all afraid of what he wanted to do, and many of us didn't even want to go in when we got there.

"What's he gonna do to us this time...?" I asked.

"Probably make us lick the floors if I had to guess," Jet replied. "I'm just wondering if maybe he'll let us all go."

As it turns out though, it was neither of those, but something completely different...

It was morning calisthenics.

"Okay! Lift your arms up, and down!" Egg Robo said to the only person doing it, Big. "One, two, three, four!"

"One... two... three... four!"

"Now reach waaaaay up, and bend waaaay down! Tighten those muscles! Let's add a little strength and speed to those young bodies of yours!"

"Aaagh! I'm not used to this!"

All of us simply watched Big flail, not even amused.

A few minutes later, it was over, and Egg Robo was panting.

"Ahh, doesn't this feel just great? Being stuck inside like this, you gotta make sure to stay healthy!"

Jet was unfazed. "Uh, dude? You're the one keeping us stuck inside."

"Well, don't sweat the small stuff, Mr. Hawk! That's my motto! Whoa, I sounded pretty cool just now, don'tcha think? Did you perhaps... fall in love with me? Am I just to die for? Ooooh, and I haven't even gotten my bikini yet!"

"Enough with putting nightmare inducing images in our head. Why did you call us here? Certainly, it WASN'T just for morning exercises?" Espio questioned, pointing his katana at Egg Robo. The robot put the katana down as he looked angry.

"Just to make you exercise? JUST to make you exercise?! If exercise makes you laugh, then it'll make you cry! Now, if you keep doing these exercises, you will uncover the secret of my Wimpy Punch art! Passed down from generation to generation in the palace of darkness, this power can be yours with one proof of purchase plus shipping and handling!"

"This sounds like some kinda junk I'd make up in middle school!" Storm mocked. I shook my head.

"It doesn't matter, get to the point! What was your TRUE motive to call us here?"

"Of course NOT! What, do you think I have that kind of free time on my hands?" Egg Robo questioned. "Either way, I'd like to make an announcement! You see, anytime you finish a class trial, a whole new world will open up to you!"

"A whole new world?" Silver questioned.

"Don't you get it? Wouldn't it just suck if you had to live here forever with nothing new to stimulate you? Besides, I know how your entitled generation has this condition or that and you don't pay attention, and so I gotta keep you motivated! So... go ahead, look around all you want! Enjoy the brand-new post trial world till you explode!"

He then left, leaving us even more confused than when he'd show up. However, I couldn't deny that I was curious about what he meant in regards to 'a new world'.

"Is he talking about a way to get outside?!" Amy questioned, surprisingly in a chipper mood after Sonic shoved her yesterday night.

"That seems unlikely," Blaze replied, messing with her hair.

"Well, we dunno until we look!" Shadow added, stepping in front of the lavender cat.

"Whatever he meant, it seems we'll have to search the zone one more time," Knuckles said. "We should split up and start investigating. Should we meet back at our usual spot once we're done?"

"Tch, listen to you. Do you actually think you'll find something you red numbskull?" Sonic replied, his tone... surprisingly sour.

"W-What are you saying?!"

"You heard me. If you think that I'm going to abide by these stupid rules you have, I say hell no to that. I'm gonna find my own clues, and what any of you say to me I couldn't give a single shit about."

Sonic turned around and walked off.

"HEY!" Shadow yelled. "Is THIS your little attitude after pushing a girl and acting like a spoiled brat?!"

The other hedgehog turned around, looked at Shadow was hatred, and quickly ran up to him, starring him right in the eye.

"YOU try seeing your best friend fucking murdered, and then we'll see who's being a spoiled brat you half-witted FAKER."

Turning around, Sonic sped off as Shadow sucked his teeth.

"Piece of shit... who cares if Tails got murdered? That's no excuse to act like a total piece of shit."

"Shadow, please! I know that this isn't right either but... Sonic isn't in a right state of mind..." Tikal said. "It's just like what Knuckles said. Maybe it is for the best that we leave him be."

Shadow didn't reply, just nodded and walked off.

"Everyone's so tense..." Amy mused. "I can't help but feel like It's my fault..."

"It's okay, Amy," Espio replied. "For as angry as Sonic was, you tried your best to calm him in the only way you knew best. Still, we should all head out to explore the new area."

As everyone left the gym, I was left behind, realizing the only thing I could do was exit and head along with everyone else.

* * *

As I left the gym, I could see the Babylon Rogues head up the stairs to the now opened second floor. Was this what Egg Robo meant by 'a new world'?

"And if so... what's up there?" I questioned. I hoped it was nothing bad, and braced myself as I buzzed up the stairs. On the second floor, I saw that the hallway and lights were illuminated a turquoise color compared to the purple and green of down stairs. I wondered if there was some kind of clue here, and knew the best place to start was to look around.

Turning to my left, I saw a double set of purple doors and headed inside. I was inside of a green room with two sets of doors, red and blue respectively, another door to my left, and one more to my right. By the door to my right was a large amount of pool equipment.

"Ooh, ooh! Look at all this cool stuff for me to swim with!" Amy gushed. "That's amazing! Maybe I can take up swimming again!"

"Don't forget all the exercise equipment in the locker room," Tikal said. "I could see some of the stronger boys coming here quite a lot."

"And if you look on your left, there's a shower room. I must say, this second floor opening up and our living areas and accessible facilities only grow. Whatever else is going on, I must admit things have been made much more comfortable for us," Blaze continued. "If things continue like this... well, maybe the occasional class trial won't be SO bad... Ha ha ha..."

I only nervously chuckled along with her, not knowing if she really meant such a thing or not.

Regardless, I decided not to pay it much mind as I looked around in the room. I got a closer look at all the pool equipment, including boards, noodles, life vests, etc. I also found one of those Egg Robo rings I uncovered before, and I made sure to use the ones I got at the class trial on new gifts.

As I got up from the floor, the next thing I noticed that I didn't even notice just now, but looked heavily out of place, was the large machine gun hanging from the ceiling.

"Is... is that a real gun?" I asked. "It's not like we're at war here. Why would we need something like this here?"

After the gun was the two locker rooms. I looked at the red door, wondering if this one was the locker room.

"Not just any locker room, Charmy. This is the girls' locker room," Blaze told me. "A true gentleman will respect our space, and I have all the right to believe that you are someone like that, am I right, Charmy?"

"Eh heh... yeah."

I only buzzed to the blue door, where I noticed the card reader to the side of the door. But... what was it for?

"You look confused, Charmy!" Amy said. "You gotta use your PAD if you wanna get into any of the locker rooms!"

"Really?"

And then, a certain SOMEONE popped up.

"Not just ANY PAD, it has to be the PAD of your assigned sex!" Egg Robo said.

"UWAH!" Tikal yelped.

"It's for extra security! That's the bottom line!"

"But, what if someone opens the door and then someone sneaks in?" Amy asked.

"Well... anyone who commits such indecency will be first punished by watching 'Gaia loves you! How to prevent sin for the benefit of you, your church, and your community', and THEN you'll be punished without mercy for your scandalous sexual depravity! See the gun above me? That's Mr. Shoot-Shoot. And Mr. Shoot-Shoot loves nothing more than firing away when he catches someone doing naughty things. DUKKA DUKKA DUKKA DUKKA is the only words he loves to say, and he'll keep saying it even when you're on the ground!"

"Man, I bet I'd be painful to get shot by that thing!"

...it's... it's a gatling gun, Amy... What did you expect?

"Now I need to ask, what happens if someone loans their PAD to someone else?" Blaze asked. "A boy could borrow a girl's PAD, vice versa, and voila, now they're in the locker room of the opposite sex."

"Wh-… WHATTTTT?!" Egg Robo yelled. "That never even occurred to me! To think someone could be so low, so cowardly, so devilish... so... augh, no synonyms that match with low! Hmm... well okay! How does this sound? Let's make a new rule! As of this moment, loaning your PAD to another student is STRICTLY prohibited! There! Now no one can give their PAD to anyone else, right? You like that? I'm kind of a genius, right? Ha ha, just kidding, I'm a full-on genius! My head is made of 100% pure yolk after all!"

"Well I don't imagine anyone would have lent their PAD out in the first place. After all, they would likely be held responsible for anything that person might do using the PAD."

"You know Blaze, you seem REAAALLY concerned about this locker room stuff," Amy commented. "You're not about to do something bad... are you?"

"Don't listen to her, Ms. Blaze! As long as it brings another blackened, then there's no issue with me!" Egg Robo said. "And besides, maybe it's NOT just because of that... maybe Blaze is also against you teenagers being complete sex-crazed maniacs! I mean, look at any boy nowadays and I know they've humped anything from a cactus, to a plastic bottle, to even their old stuffed teddy from when they were a kid! And so, to prevent you from being curious little tykes, I have to maintain a rigorous watch!"

"Then in that case, I would like to ask you to keep the same close eye on our dorms," Blaze continued. "If a boy and girl decided to share a room, then there's nothing to stop them."

"All I care about is protecting the holy image of the zone itself! And well, to maybe get myself on the cover of Mother Tarsier Monthly too! But your private rooms are your private rooms, so go crazy!"

"How... how dare you! That sounds so depraved!" Tikal said.

"Well, we didn't even need to play spot the virgin, did we?"

"E-Excuse me?!"

"Well, the new regulations are in place, so see ya!"

Before Tikal could say anything, Egg Robo already disappeared, leaving behind a speechless Tikal.

"I... have no comment about that last part," I said.

"Add me in the mix," Amy replied.

"Make that a number 3 for me," Blaze continued. Tikal simply stood there, mouth hanging.

"Well, regardless, that stupid egg ruined my mood. Blaze, Tikal, wanna join me?"

"Sounds exciting, but I'll have to attend to some matters. However, as long as it's not water related, I'm glad to accompany you."

Tikal simply stood there.

"Wow, guess she is more broken than I thought."

With the girls still chatting, I decided to head into the boy's locker room. Scanning my PAD, I entered and saw a line of lockers, plus general exercise equipment, such as punching bags, bench sets, machine flys, dumbbells, and a couple of others too. With nothing else much to look, I headed out and passed by the three girls and headed to the pool area.

As I entered, I couldn't help but deny that it did look really nice in here. The room was large and expansive, with a large set of benches as well as a high ceiling above me. The pool itself was also as big as a football field, and even a little intimidating to a degree. However, it didn't look like there was a lot to offer here, so I left. Next was the shower room which... also wasn't remarkable too. The only thing I noted about the area was that there was no separate stall, meaning everyone would have to shower seeing...

I left the room, not wanting to think too much about that.

Leaving the pool and locker room area, I passed by two bathrooms as I walked into the red lit portion of the floor. The first thing I saw to my left was the library. Upon heading inside, I saw a few people, including Vector, Big, Sonic, and Knuckles. The first thing I did was take notice of the laptop by Vector, which looked old and was covered in dust.

"It's broken," the crocodile detective said. "I tried pressin' the power button earlier, but nothin' happened. Besides, somethin' this old looks like it wouldn't do much help. It's remarkably dusty in here anyway. That's probably how it broke. Not to mention, the lightin' is less than ideal. Fer a library, this ain't the kind of place I'd want to do much readin' in..."

"It's broken, huh? Too bad... I was hoping I could use it to go online and see what's going on in the outside world. But... if it's broken, there's nothing I can really do about it."

I decided to talk to the others first. Big was checking a few books out from the shelves.

"Did you find anything worthwhile, Big?" I asked.

"No... all these words hurt my head... I don't think there's much up here."

After Big was Knuckles, who, like the cat, also didn't seem to interested in the books. When I went over to Sonic however, he sneered at me.

"And at what point in my lifetime did I give you permission to even look at my general direction, _Charmy,"_ he said, saying my name as if it were venom.

"Well jeez, no need to act like an idiot."

"And your point is? Besides, this library is more interesting than anything here..."

Never thinking that he was the one to fantasize about books, I was about to leave when I noticed one of the dusty shelves had... a letter on it.

"What's this?" I asked myself, holding it and bringing it closer to my face. On the letter read, 'Green Hills Zone'.

Vector walked closer to me, looking at the letter. "It was buried under a thick layer of dust. Musta been sittin' there fer quite a while. Open it up, Charmy."

"Are you sure? Isn't that like... against the law?"

"What we SHOUDLN'T do is leave here without findin' out what's inside. Now go on, do it."

"Okay, okay! No need to get brash!"

Undoing the seal, I opened the letter and revealed one sheet of folded up paper which had writing from a pen on it. Big, Knuckles, and even Sonic walked closer as I began to read the contents of the letter.

 _"From the Green Hills Zone Executive Office,_

 _Throughout the years, we have been committed to shaping the youth to become the heroes who will one day shape the world. We have a long, proud history as an institution of higher learning with full government support. Our graduates enter society ready to take on active leadership roles in every major job field, as well as face the terrors caused by any evil-doer in our world._

 _However, Green Hills Zone must now lower the curtain on its glorious history, for the time being. This decision was not an easy one to make, but serious issues beyond our control have made it necessary._

 _But make no mistake-this is not the end for Green Hills Zone. We intend to reopen our doors as soon as the issues forcing our closure have been resolved. That being said, this is the end for now, and I would like to personally and sincerely thank everyone for your help and support over the years. For now, we are awaiting official governmental authorization to formally cease operations."_

"What does this mean?" I asked once I finished reading.

"Hmm... such an interesting letter..." Sonic mused, that... smug grin on his face again.

"From what I'm getting', it looks like Green Hills stopped functionin' as a zone. And judgin' by the amount of dust on the letter, I dun think it was recently. If I had to guess, this may be 'bout a year old," Vector commented.

"So... you're saying that Green Hills closed down at least a year ago?" I replied.

"If I were to take a guess..." Knuckles said. "The mastermind took over the abandoned zone and disguised it as this... murder zone."

"But wouldn't that mean it was closed when got here a few days ago? Heck, I didn't get that sense at all! I got attended by two ladies after all! And PLUS, if the zone HAD shut down, every newspaper in the country would be talking about it! If it really did happen a year ago... then that doesn't explain how, when before I got here, I stayed up looking at internet forums with no mention of this!"

"Then it was the mastermind's plan," Sonic said. "They lured us all in here... they made a system where they could judge and execute could be capable of anything. Of course, that IS if the letter is real."

"And IF it's real though, then it solves one mystery 'bout this place. The reason why we're the only students here could be cause the school already closed down," Vector replied.

"Well, that would be a nice, simple solution, wouldn't it, Vector?"

"Hold on now," I interrupted. "Aren't we forgetting the other part? The 'issues beyond our control' part? What do you think they meant by issues? That's apparently why the zone had to close. Is there a connection between that and what's happening to us now?"

"Tch, you're still here?"

"He is indeed," Vector said. "Now hush, cause it was Charmy that read the letter. So, if the two events are in fact connected, then uncovering it could be a useful clue, on top of figurin' out the mastermind's motive. But I can't say much more 'till we find some more details."

"And the mastermind only knows the truth still... what a shame, if only they'd reveal themselves, I'd finally take my revenge...!"

Leaving Sonic and Vector be, I turned back to the letter.

The mastermind's motive...

If we can figure out why they would want to imprison us here, will it be enough to get us out of here?

Or...

"No, I can't think like that," I said. "Still though, I think that's everything on Floor 2. However, there's still no exit yet. All I can do now is hope someone else found something worthwhile."

With that, I headed out of the library and to the dining hall, where everyone else should have their report.

* * *

Upon arriving, we all took our seats as we waited for everyone to get there. Once Silver and Jet finally caught up with us, Knuckles cleared his throat.

"So, I assume since we finished our investigation... did we uncover anything new?" he asked.

"Wasn't I the leader you braindead red oaf?..." Sonic asked.

"We decided once you stop acting like a major condescending dickbag, we'll consider it. But in the meantime, shut up!" Shadow replied.

"Speak for yourself..."

"Shush!" Knuckles yelled. "This arguing gets us nowhere. I know we're still mourning our friends; however, we must focus on ahead to the survival of all of us from here on out! That means if someone wants to murder... you'll have to get past me."

We all stared at him as he said that.

"Wow Knuckles..." Amy said. "You... you actually sounded cool saying it like that."

"D-Did I? I... well thank you. Still, before anything else, we should discuss what we uncovered."

"There's a library..." Big replied. "However, I didn't like it... big words hurt my brain..."

"There was also an exercise area too, even a large pool as well!" Tikal said.

"Still no escape route however..." Espio added.

"And the classrooms are still the same," Wave said. "Honestly, we spent the time playing cards."

"Actually, I found something cool too!" Silver said. "The warehouse and the bathhouse on this floor are now open! The warehouse is filled with a lot of supplies, even food and clothes, and the bathhouse is... well, a bathhouse. I already got a few snacks while I was there personally!"

Blaze cleared her throat. "Keep in mind our nighttime rule though. Just don't go crazy with our new playthings..."

"Okay okay, neato," Shadow said, interrupting us all. "But what 'bout a fucking way out of here? You find anything like that?"

"Uhh..." Knuckles started to look around the room. "Yes... uh... about that..."

"Silver, not a damn thing you could find in the warehouse we could us to get our asses out of here?! Nothing?!"

"Uh... no..."

"Gah, you fucking people... Who gives a shit about all this new stuff? What, a pool or a warehouse is supposed to make me feel better?! We're still trapped in this piece of shit zone, and we still have to find a damn way out!"

"Now now, there's no need to take your anger out on us," Blaze replied. "After all, being angry is your favorite pastime it seems like. Adaption is the key, like I said. For now, we must each find a way to enjoy our current situation."

"Whatever you say, you weirdo..."

"Shadow, I understand your pain..." Knuckles said. "However, all we can do is continue our investigation and let everyone know if you should discover something."

"So, we done fer today?" Vector asked.

"It... seems so."

Knuckles hung his head, and the air around us grew heavy again. Was this the mastermind's plan? To give us hope, and then pull on the rug under us to betray that hope?

I saw Sonic brooding in the distance, only staring at our group in deep thought. As soon as he noticed me, he sneered and turned away from me.

And minutes later, we all left the dining hall after having our dinner for that night. Once we finished eating, we headed back to our room, where the nighttime announcement played.

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The monitor turned on and I got in bed, where I started to play along with the announcement.

"Mm, ahem," Egg Robo began as I followed along. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

It was rather scary how I memorized that to be honest...

Still, with our nighttime rule, there wasn't much I could do except... turn in for the night and go to bed.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Mr. Egg Robo... Mr. Egg Robo, do you have a second? I'll be honest... I'm kind of a loner. I don't have many friends, and not a lot of talents to make people notice me. My grades are average, my reflexes are okay, and overall, I'm someone who's not great but not awful. I guess I COULD get into a decent university where I'd make a few friends, maybe even a normal girlfriend too. But that's why I don't like who I am! I understand now! My life is one giant copy paste! It's like I'm plagiarizing that one small minor character in that series of books you like! I'm almost like a cardboard cutout! Isn't that right, Mr. Egg Robo?"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	12. Chapter 2 (Daily Life 2)

**(AN: Well, back with another chapter! Sorry, I wanted to get this out last night, but Final Fantasy 8 called to me.. so yeah. Back with more Despair Hill, and I hope you enjoy some new character development we're getting today! Knowing how he's "the second favorite character in the entire canon", you all know him, I have nothing more to say, so here we go!**

 **Oh and uh... more Sonic being... Sonic is guranteed)**

* * *

 _Nine sets of windows all lit up a portrait of various Egg Robos of different colors. One had a red face, a pink one, a yellow one, a blue one, a neon green one, and a peach one to name a few._

 _"Just as the array of colors is countless..." one of the Egg Robos said._

 _"The number of Egg Robos is infinite," another said._

 _"Which of us is real, you ask?"_

 _"Which are imposters?"_

 _"Well, all I answer is... I am Egg Robo."_

 _"And I am the endless spectrum between black and white..."_

 _The windows all turned off, and the scene turned entirely black._

* * *

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

Sometimes, I wondered if I ever could replace that sound with something else. As usual, the morning bell rang to life as the monitor in my room turned on. And the voice of... actually, I think you don't even have to second guess who that is.

"Good morning, everyone! It's now 7 a.m., and nighttime is officially over! It's time to not only rise and shine, but also to get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day! Oh, that's right!"

Now I was taken off guard. Egg Robo rarely had something to say in his morning speeches. What went wrong?

"I wanted to let you know that your PAD's have been updated! New regulations have been added, so please take a look and enjoy your zone life more than ever!"

If I had to guess... this had to be the new rule he made while I was taking with some of the girls in the locker room. Loaning your PAD to another student is strictly prohibited...

Could someone do anything like that?

But just then, my stomach rumbled.

"...okay, enough time being around here, it's breakfast time," I said, leaving my room.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **The Ties that Bring us Together**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 2**

As I buzzed over to the dining hall, I could already see many of my friends enjoying their breakfast. Amy was the first one to point me out.

"Oh, morning Charmy!" she said very bubbly. "I was able to find some delicious chocolate chip muffins in the warehouse! Treat yourself!"

"Ah, thank you," I replied, buzzing over and taking one. "Hey, so is everyone here already?"

"Nope, still waiting on the Babylon Rogues and Sonic," Silver replied.

Espio drank his tea calmly. "Normally it's not surprising that they would be late, as they don't seem to like us. However... Sonic?"

"Yeah... what's my darling Sonic up to anyway?!" Amy put her hands on her hips. "He better not be smooching all over Wave!"

"I couldn't be caught DEAD with that hedgehog near me."

Sure enough, the Babylon Rogues walked into the dining hall almost like they were a posse.

"O-Oh! Wave!"

"And for your information, Amy... I'm not the one all head over heels for him."

"You tell her, Wave!" Storm added.

"Well, fine! If you're gonna be that way Storm, then I GUESS I have to be a mean Amy and tell you I ate the last glazed donut!" the pink hedgehog replied.

"Augh?! You ate the last one?!"

"I'll tell you where a new box is if you apologize!"

"Don't listen to her, Storm!" Jet said. "She's just-"

"And Egg Robo said he decided to stop serving steak biscuits to you because he's worried you had too many, Jet!"

"Noooo! Anything but that!"

Wave simply rolled her eyes and scoffed. "You two are so childish..."

Meanwhile, Knuckles finished eating his apple and sighed. "Regardless, I'm sure Sonic will be here soon. Just be patient."

"I don't mind waiting for them, but there is one problem..." Blaze said.

"Huh? What's up, Blaze?" I asked.

"I'm thirsty."

"How in the hell is that a problem?" Shadow asked.

"Hmm... I'm in the need for some refreshment... Big? Would you be so kind to make me some tea?"

"Huh?... me, Ms. Blaze the Cat?.." he asked.

"I desire some milk tea. Surely you have made some in your lifetime, no?"

"Well... I don't mind but... why me?..."

"Your roundish figure reminds me of a barista I knew about. He always served me the finest civet coffee... and I can feel my throat drying out. Quickly, if you don't mind."

And that's your reason?...

"Okay..."

Big got out of his chair and waddled towards the kitchen. I felt bad for the cat... I knew that he never probably made milk tea at any point in his life. And yet... he couldn't deny her request.

And so, a few minutes of waiting and having the Babylon Rogues start their breakfast, Big came back a plate in his hand and a teacup on the plate.

"Uh... thank you for waiting, Ms. Blaze the Cat..." he said. "I hope you like it..."

"Ah, you are such a gentleman, Big..." Blaze replied.

"Hey, you could have made some for the rest of us, y'know?!" Jet complained.

"Jet, you don't even DRINK tea," Wave refuted.

"'Cause it doesn't compare to cola, naturally! Duh!"

"Well, if you don't mind, I'll get started..." Blaze said as she grabbed the small plate. She grabbed the tea cup and then...

Paused.

"Wait..."

She took a sniff and then... threw the cup directly at the wall behind Big. As it did, it caught on fire and crashed with great impact as we all took notice at what was happening.

"Huh? What's wrong, Ms. Blaze the Cat?!" Big asked.

"I HATE this kind of tea!" Blaze said, anger in her voice.

"Umm... I don't understand..."

"Then let me explain it to you. We're at a café, your everyday café if you will. I sit down and I order some tea. I am then asked, 'Would you like lemon or milk?'. From there, I'm going to say, 'Ah yes, I'd love milk tea, please.'" Along with my tea, they may bring me a small container of milk, yes? But this... this isn't for me! I prefer the milk to be added during the brewing process! If you DON'T do that, it's like if you just dowsed fries in ketchup, nothing but pure condiments!"

If I had to describe our shared reaction to what we just heard... I'd have to go with wide-eyed bewilderment.

"Uh... I'm not used to making that... I thought that's how it was made... I'm sorry... I don't drink tea..."

"I know it's a bit of a hassle, Big, especially with a man of your caliber who hasn't enjoyed proper dining... It takes more time to prepare, and not to mention, it's pricier but... why even bother creating a menu if you're not even going to offer the highest level of quality? Do you see where I'm going with this?"

As she talked, I couldn't help but notice... flares coming from Blaze's hand.

"We don't have a menu though..."

And then, her demeanor suddenly changed.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Blaze hissed, hand over her mouth as her appearance changed to that of pure poison. Her fangs were on full display as even her voice didn't match how she normally sounded, and I noticed that her hands started to catch fire. "That doesn't matter! Hurry up, and bring me what I desire you SWINE!"

"AUGH! I-I'm going!"

Big quickly ran back to the kitchen, afraid for his life. I could see the everyone's faces having pure confusion on them. Blaze shook her hands as the flames it extinguished. "Hu hu hu... Ah... I do love coercion."

"You... you were like a totally different person just now..." Amy said.

"Shit, you really went insane there..." Shadow added.

"And that fire thing... man, what the fuck!" Jet said.

All Blaze did was giggle. I knew there was more to her when I first met her. I think I'd really hate to have her as an enemy. I mean... she is one scary chick.

As Big worked hard on making the tea and we were all done with breakfast, Knuckles got up.

"It's too odd that Sonic hasn't arrived yet. I will do some exploring. Espio, do you mind coming along with me?"

"Yer not even gonna call the Ultimate Detective?" Vector asked.

"My apologizes, we won't take too long."

And so, the two got up and headed out of the dining hall. In the meantime, we sat around, watched Blaze finally enjoy her new tea, and I proceeded to play 20 questions with Tikal, Amy, and Silver.

Almost half an hour passed when Knuckles and Espio came back looking... conflicted.

"We have bad news..." Knuckles began. "I believe we have a mystery afoot."

"What happened?" Silver asked.

Espio walked forward. "I think Sonic refuses to leave his room. We've been trying to get his attention, but no one came to answer."

"And that took half an hour?" Storm asked.

"I thought we could get a response if we waited around, but it didn't work naturally."

"Maybe he wasn't there?" I asked.

"I'd like to agree, however... we cannot rule out the possibility that something might have happened to him."

My eyes widened. What Espio said... he didn't even have to continue, because we all understood.

"No... no!" Amy yelled. "Not my Darling Sonic!"

"W-We can't say anything yet!" I replied. "C'mon, let's all split up to find him!"

"And why should we do that?" Wave asked.

"Look, I know the guy is a dick, and he kept accusing me of murder but... he's still our friend!"

"Do you still continue to believe in that nonsense? Well fine, I guess seeing if our favorite hedgehog is dead or not would be a nice time waster."

"I'll go check his room one more time!" Amy said. "I'll keep hammering that button until I get a response! Hold on my Darling Sonic! Your dear, Amy Rose, is going to save you!"

Amy bolted out of the dining hall.

"Meanwhile, we should check the rest of the building," Knuckles said.

"Let's try and make it quick... and hope that nothing bad happened to him!" Silver added.

I did wonder where Sonic was... I mean, with someone as fast as him, he could be anywhere!

But my first thought was to check the second floor. I didn't expect much but... it was worth a hunch.

As we all got up from our seats and headed out of the dining hall, I buzzed towards the main hall and to the stairs of the second floor.

…but before I did...

"Okay, maybe it won't be TOO bad if I play the gashapon machine before I continue my investigation."

And so, I took a quick detour to the zone store and played the gashapon machine, quickly putting my EggRings into the slots and turning the crank as fast as I could as I got present after present. Collecting as many as I could in about two minutes. After getting done, I looked around the hall to make sure no one saw me procrastinating and headed towards the stairs for real this time. When I did, I saw Vector by the bathrooms.

"So, ya thought to come here too, Charmy..." he said. Just then, Espio appeared.

"As did I... something about this place... I feel like Sonic would be here,"

"But, why do you say that?" I asked.

"The way Sonic's demeanor has been... what he found a bit interestin'... can yeh think of anythin' at all?" Vector asked. I scratched my chin as I buzzed forward.

"Did you figure it out?" Espio asked.

I buzzed in front of the library. Something about it... his demeanor and what he was interested in... was it because of this place?

There was nothing else I could do but open the doors and walk inside. And when I did... I cried out in sudden surprise.

"Sonic?!"

Sitting by one of the desks, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and reading a book in another was... Sonic. Of all the things I'd imagined, this scene definitely wasn't it.

"Uh... what are you doing?" I asked.

"Fishing. No, what the hell does it look like I'm doing?" he replied. "I'm trying to read, so if you can shut up and go away..."

"Oh... okay..."

I don't know why, but I wanted to shut the door right there. However, I stopped myself.

"Wait a minute, not okay! What are you doing here?! Everyone was super worried and we all went looking for you!"

"...and who asked you to do that, you clod?"

"Uh... did you kind of forget the thing YOU made us do? You know, us eating breakfast every morning?"

"No, I didn't forget. I just couldn't bear to see your annoying faces each morning. Is that such a problem? Ugh, can I NOT get a single minute of peace here? To think I finally found something I can do and of course, you all ruin it!"

Sonic snapped his book shut, put it on the table, and got up from his chair like a shadow. Meanwhile, Vector and Espio had come into the room, followed by everyone else.

"My darling Sonic!" Amy exclaimed. "Oh, I'm so glad I found you!"

Just as Amy was about to hug Sonic, the blue hedgehog dodged out of the way.

"And I'm not glad to see your mugs here. Isn't that such a contrast?" he replied.

"So this is where you've been hiding, Sonic!" Knuckles said. "...why are you even in a library anyway?"

"Reading. That's why."

"Reading? You sure as hell never struck me as someone who read!" Shadow replied.

"And what? You're now a king of judgement? Speak for yourself. Besides, my old self would have never been interested in a place like this. How foolish he must have been... not realizing the great amount of information I can gather from here in my attempt to bring down the mastermind..."

"And what were you reading?" Tikal asked.

"A mystery novel."

"Uh... Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog? Are you gonna use what you learned in the book against us?..." Big asked.

"Don't be stupid, you slow cat."

"Hey now!" I said. "No need to-"

"Shut up, bee. Besides, it's something to keep in mind."

I shut my mouth. The more and more Sonic spoke... the more I did feel like someone would punch him in the jaw. This way he was acting... why? Was it REALLY in response to Tails' death?

"If I decide to fight, I think I'll come up with something original. Otherwise, this game is going to be boring, isn't it? It's not often we get to partake in something with such high stakes and such high tension. So if you're going to do it, you have to make sure it's interesting."

His words sent a chill down my spine. Was his revenge against the mastermind... was he really confessing he was plotting a murder? There was a smile on his face... but not a smile of joy... it was a smile of cockiness. To think this same Sonic threw up and emotionally broke down after seeing his best friend executed... It felt like he was now enjoying this killing game.

I remember him mentioning it the other day, about how he 'finally understood'... was this what he meant?

"What the fuck do you mean, game?! That's fucked up!" Shadow exclaimed.

"It's not 'fucked up' as you claim," Wave replied. "I think Sonic has opened his eyes to the truth of this game. Even if it did take an emotionally scarring incident to be the cause."

"Ah, I'm so glad we see eye to eye, Wave-" Sonic began before being interrupted.

"Can it, hedgehog. I might see this as a game too, but don't even THINK for one minute I'd stoop to your level."

"B-But Wave!" Jet squawked. "Listen to him! That's clearly the words of someone who's fucked up!"

"And what? You're little miss precious here?" Sonic asked. "Face it, hawk. You've done nothing but insult everyone here without having little care for anyone but yourself. So, let me inform you so our favorite selfish hawk can understand. This IS a game. It's a game of life or death, which can only have one winner. That's all there is to it."

"He is right though, this is a zero-sum game," Blaze added.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I don't know the fine print details but... from what I understand, it's a certain type of math model and a type of game. In this game, for one person to gain something, another must lose something. Don't you feel in this case, that would be... a life?"

"What you're saying is that this game is some kind of elimination match," Espio remarked.

"A lot of things can apply as a zero-sum game. Entrance exams, sports tournaments, job openings, even social interactions can be a zero-sum game. Everyone has to scramble to obtain something limited. For you to succeed, someone else must fail. This applies here of course, like I said. The limited resource is that only one can be the 'blackened'. If they succeed, then they shall win the game."

"A game that was designed from the beginning to force one of us to try and defeat the others..." Sonic remarked. "It's tragic that Tails didn't win the first round. However... I am forever his friend, and I shall win this game for not just me, but for Tails as well!"

"You can't say that!" I argued before Blaze stepped in front of me.

"Oh, but he can. This is why adapting is so crucial, Charmy. If those who wanted to escape were to disappear, there would be no reason to continue playing the game."

"But why would I wanna stop? It's so... so much fun... and picking up the pieces from Tails' failure... I know I'm making him proud..." Sonic growled as he said this.

Something about this... it's... I felt like it was exciting him in so many ways. I didn't know if that was dirty or not but... just the way he got intoxicated by it worried me. His enthusiasm, the way he growled as he said his statement, and his smile... they were all filled with evil intent.

"But wouldn't you want to stop there, Sonic? After all, there's a chance you COULD lose."

"Oh, but of course."

"Well... It seems like after Tails' death, you don't speak like the others. You've adapted well it seems..."

"Don't speak my bud's name like it's nothing, you entitled girl!"

"Tch, nevermind... you've adapted well, but grew a large ego it seems..."

"Just a second, my Darling Sonic!" Amy interrupted.

"Why are you still calling me that? I feel a mass of bile rising in my throat the more you say it."

"Listen to me! All this stuff you're talking about... what if YOU wind up dead?!"

"I won't. That's it. End of statement. What, did you want me to kiss you because I acknowledged you? Get serious, little girl, and stop living your ridiculous fantasies."

Shadow got in front of Amy, staring right into Sonic's eyes. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

"Sonic the Hedgehog. And you? A little insect who does nothing but curse all day. You know, it's hard to believe."

"Believe what?"

"That an uneducated, brain-dead, worthless piece of TRASH like yourself has survived this long."

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Shadow rolled up his jacket sleeve. "I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Before Shadow could swing at Sonic, Tikal ran in between the two.

"No, please don't!" she exclaimed. "Shadow, it's not worth it! He's only trying to make you angry!"

Shadow looked at the echidna girl, sucked his teeth, and rolled down his sleeves.

"Good boy..." Sonic said. "I'm glad you're like a dog taking orders. Like I said, I won't die."

"You keep saying that, dude... but what if-" Silver began before another interruption from Blaze.

"Don't bother with him, Silver. For him, he no longer accepts the concept of losing. He may be the Ultimate Runner, but now... I believe he wants to strive for Ultimate Successor. Is that not so, Sonic?"

"Well, I'm glad you see it, Blaze. Tails dying... I refuse to get that image from my head. But... if I can succeed where he failed... then I know I avenged everything! Knowing that I succeeded while you all suffer in the pits of hell for what you've all done! Anyway, let me say this now. You all need to try harder. If an opponent isn't going to give it their best, where's the fun?"

"Man, we shouldn't even try if it spites you!" Storm exclaimed. "That's what I think about your little 'stupid' game!"

"Oh, by all means, go right ahead. But when poor little Storm the Albatross gets murdered... what'll happen then?"

Storm shut his mouth.

"Sonic... that's... this whole thing, it's a terrible way to look at it!" Tikal said.

"What?"

"It's because... this isn't a game! Our lives our on the line, you know! To kill your own friends... no, to kill... it's... it's...! It's horrific and awful!"

"Friends?... Who decided that? Who decided I was friends with anyone of you dunces? We're not friends. No, I'd say we're enemies."

"B-But!"

"But what?! Stop trying to force feed your little pacifist ideologies down my throat. It's disgusting. It's so disgusting that I can imagine why people could get sick of you if all you like to do is preach on your soapbox."

Tikal began to cry.

"Yes yes, cry! Cry more you little child! If you have something to say, SAY IT! Otherwise, keep your mouth shut and STAY THERE!"

I grit my teeth as my fists clenched. The more he continued to be this way... the more I just wanted him to finally get a taste of his own medicine.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Shadow yelled. "Come after me, I couldn't give a shit! But start bullying others, ESPECIALLY bullying others who aren't as strong as you and can't fight back?! That's fucking low!"

"Shadow?..." Tikal looked up in between her tears.

"So, you're back to pretending being friends, huh? How long do you think that's going to last, Shadow?" Sonic asked, his smug grin back on his face.

"Fuck you!"

Shadow swinged, but before he could hit, Sonic sped out of the way.

"You missed," he said. Shadow stumbled, but was able to regain his balance before he could tumble.

"Is that all you can say and do? Punch others and curse? It's unfortunate you'd waste your breath and energy on such garbage."

"Shadow! My D... I mean, Sonic! Calm down!" Amy yelled.

"I AM calm!" the black hedgehog replied back.

"...how is that calm?"

"Anyway, I think I'm done wasting my time and my breath on the rest of you. I feel fatigued, must be your little talks of friendship and other such trite. Hell, why should I even come to breakfast anyway? Someone could poison our meal. And I'd rather not be the next representative for the Last Supper," Sonic said.

"Quit talking like you're a fucking movie villain!" Shadow replied.

"And you're talking like you're a movie stereotype. What does that say about you? All I'm saying is that, ultimately, you're free to do whatever you want. But I'm not a part of it. Goodbye."

And with that, Sonic walked away from the library. Nobody stopped him, nor said anything. This new way of thinking... it was beyond anything the rest of us could understood.

Shadow was the first to interrupt our thoughts by punching the bookcase. "Damn piece of shit hedgehog!"

"Someone really should screw the missing bolts into that idiot's brain!" Jet said. "I mean, listen to him! 'OOOH I'm better than you, OOOH this is a game!' For Gaia's SAKE he pisses me off!"

"My question is, was he serious about that?" Silver asked.

"He was, without a doubt," replied Blaze.

"Well he can go step on a thumbtack on the stairs, fall, and break his neck. I couldn't give a shit what happens to him anymore," Shadow added, walking off. Tikal began to take a few steps.

"Shadow?"

He turned around to look at her.

"...thank you for defending me..."

Shadow simply looked at Tikal, nodded, and then left.

And nobody said much after that. Our breakfast meeting came to an end without answering any questions. We all headed back to our rooms, solemn, and still unsure of where to go next. My question when I returned to my room was...

What should I do?

 **FREE TIME**

As I left my room, I buzzed down the hall, wondering who I could spend the day with. It was when I only reached the main hall that I saw the bathhouse being open. Now that I remembered it... I didn't get a very good look at it. So, I buzzed towards there where I found Shadow putting on his jacket.

"Shadow! It's me, Charmy. Uh... hi?"

Shadow turned to face me. He didn't smile but... I could tell he was glad to have some company.

"Oh, it's you, the kid I punched on my first day. Charmy, is it?"

"Yyyyyeah... that guy."

"Look, I guess I kinda took you for a bit of a goody two shoes at first. But seeing you more and more, you solving that class trial, I guess I can say that I've warmed up to you a little bit."

"No worries, I forgive you... even if it WAS a hard punch. We were stressed and I can tell you use anger to vent it out. But... I won't lie, seeing you defend Tikal showed me you really do have a soft side..."

"S-Soft side?! Now listen here, you dumbass kid! Sure, I defended the girl but to even IMPLY that! Now you're talking shit!"

I grinned. I won't lie... Shadow's kind of getting my interest a bit. I wondered... should I hang out with him?

I didn't even need to think twice.

"Okay okay, I believe you. Besides, what were you doing here?" I asked.

"What, I CAN'T be in the bathhouse?"

"I'm not saying that! I was just curious about why you were here."

"Unwinding after that whole shit with Sonic. Trust me, I need it."

"I don't blame you. I've never seen anyone act this way. One day he's normal, grinning and happy, then he's emotionally broken, sobbing and screaming, and now he's decided that he's going to shun us all and treat us like we're vermin... What do you think Tails would say?"

"I dunno, but I hope he talks to Sonic in... I dunno, a dream and puts him straight!"

Shadow sat down on the bench.

"C'mon, bee, take a seat."

I sat down next to the black hedgehog.

"Tell me, you a morning bath kinda guy? I usually spend my nights riding my motorcycle, so it's nice to spend the early morning taking a bath. Plus, when the water is hot and you have something like bath salts, it makes it even nicer."

"Uh... I generally shower. I almost actually drowned once in the bath when I was a kid so... I don't do it much."

"Shower?! Ugh, fuckin' nerd..."

I would have been offended by what he said, but part of me said he didn't really mean it seriously.

"How about this, if we get out of here, let's head to a public spa where they have one of those open baths. Those are always the best. But that means you gotta live, you hear?!"

"I know!"

As I made that promise with Shadow, I could feel that we got closer today. I knew that now would be the perfect time to give him a gift, and so I looked through all the capsules I had and... heard his stomach growl.

"Oh, are you hungry?" I asked. Looking through my presents, I found some food at the very top and got something I thought Shadow would like: a cup of noodles (which I still found weird that they came from a capsule).

"Cup noodles!" Shadow replied. "Ah, why didn't you give me this earlier? As the Ultimate Lifeform, I don't have to eat often but... cup noodles are always delicious. Thank you so much."

As he ate his lunch, I smiled because seeing Shadow be this happy with something I gave him made me happy too!

Finishing his meal, Shadow set the Styrofoam cup next to him and sighed.

"Delicious... thank you so much. Normally I don't hang out with guys a lot but... I think hanging out with you has proved to be a more fun time then I ever expected it to be."

"Well, I'm glad to be here."

"But that's beside the point. Tell me, what's your ride?"

"Uhh... my ride?"

"Your bike! Your motobike! You have one, don't you?"

"Uh... I'm not really like you at all, Shadow. Heck, I don't even have my driver's license yet!"

"I mean, you're not a little kid anymore. Not even one of those ATV motobikes?..."

"Nada."

"Ugh... for Gaia's sake you're a dweeb..."

"Um... I'm sorry?"

"Don't be. Here, why don't I be the world's biggest sweetheart and educate you about motorbikes and what kinds to get. Accevive is the one drive. I rather like its transmission, as well its handling and its acceleration. However, it does take a lot to get used to..."

"That's quite a bit of information... I'm surprised your ultimate talent isn't related to motorcycles."

"Eh, then I'd have to sport a pompadour, and then I'd REALLY look like a dweeb."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it. Regardless, the reason I care so much about my ride is because it's really only one of the few things I do that I can call 'a hobby'. Perhaps one day if you ever do learn... we can ride together. Not to worry, I'll try to slow down at your level. Just... try to bear with the sound from the straight pipe."

"Straight pipe?"

"Do you even know what that is?"

I was inclined to say no but... I didn't want to offend. A straight pipe...

If I remembered correctly, I think I learned this in a mechanics class I took last year. When something was missing, it made a loud sound...

The only thing I could think of was the only thing I knew that gave a motorcycle noise.

"There's... no muffler?" I said, unsure of myself.

"Wow, you did know. I'm surprised."

I rubbed the back of my head. "Well... you know... I guess I have my knowledge here and there."

"Then that's that, we'll be sure to ride together. Seeing you trying to ride one though... it brings back some memories. Bad ones, but good ones too."

...bad memories? I was a bit confused on what he meant by that. The only thing I could do was ask. "What do you mean?"

"I... don't like to talk about it. Isn't the world's most pleasant subject."

Now I was even more confused. What was he hiding from me?

"Regardless, Charmy... I think you'd enjoy the ride. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave. And... thanks for worrying about me."

"Heh, you're almost like Tikal, thanking me!"

"Hey now! I had to protect her! Don't expect me to be someone who kisses ass all the time!"

"There's the Shadow I know."

Shadow scoffed and turned away. Even if he did do that... I knew he enjoyed his time hanging out.

* * *

After seeing the clock in the dining hall turn to 3, I decided that now was a good time to have some lunch. Once I finished my meal, I saw Silver carrying a basket filled with laundry.

"Silver, what's with the laundry?" I asked.

"Laundry day, what else do you do with it?"

"Okay yes but... why do you have so many cyan hoodies?"

"Dunno, I like the color?"

I simply only looked at him, confused and bewildered.

"Don't judge me, man! I can't help it if I like cyan hoodies!"

Silver quickly entered the laundry room and shut the door behind him. I simply watched as he strugged to get all of his laundry into one of the machines. However, I noticed Shadow hang drying one of his coats.

"You know... I don't have much to do today, how about I talk to Shadow?" I told myself. "I mean, he wouldn't mind... right?"

I entered the room and buzzed to where Shadow was, who was checking out how his jacket was.

"Shadow?"

He then turned around. "Oh, Charmy. What a surprise. I was just drying off some of my things. Not much going on here. You?"

"Just got done eating lunch. Hey, wanna hang out? I had a fun time from earlier today."

"Eh, I don't mind. I'm down to kill time."

And so, I hung out and talked with Shadow as we waited for the clothes in the dryer to finish. It wasn't anything too spectacular... just overall small talk. Regardless, I felt we got a little closer today, and I decided to give him another present.

"What the... another present? Jeez, you're generous kid. You REALLY don't have to do that..." he said. Ignoring what he said, I settled on giving him some fresh bindings. If I remember correctly, people use these to bind during fights. Since Shadow was a physical person, I thought he'd like.

Sure enough, he did, as he looked shocked when I handed it to him.

"No way!" he said, surprised. "I've been wanting something like this... I... thank you, I feel lucky to own this."

Knowing that I was able to give two gifts to Shadow that he loved... it made me happy!

After placing the bindings into his pocket, Shadow sat by the wall and began to murmer to himself.

"...bastard..." he said. I was confused by what was going on.

"Huh?"

"...dammit bastard son of a bitch!"

"Uh... what's wrong? Why are you mad?"

"Why am I mad? Why am I mad?! Can't you see why I'm mad?"

"You were... happy with the present I gave you... Did you really not like it?"

"It's not that it's just... seeing the bindings you gave me made me realize that more than anything, I need to get outta here! I need to get out and run wild! I'm pissed! Gah, shit!"

"I mean... I understand! Just... don't do anything crazy, okay?"

"Yo, how's about a one on one?"

"Eh? Pardon?"

"Bareknuckle brawl, no weapons. How does it sound?"

"Didn't you already punch me and knock me out once?! And besides... I'm... I'm lost."

"Gah, what part of bareknuckle brawl don't you understand you idiot!"

I could hear someone shifting behind me, and I turned my head around quickly to see Silver scoot out of the laundry room.

"Hey, listen to me when I'm talking to you, Charmy!"

"Y-You want a hand to hand, fight? B-But friends can't fight each other! And besides, even if they COULD... I think you'd win in a landslide!"

"That's the only way I can burn off this energy!"

"I've never even been in a fight before! Actually... now that I think about it, why not ask someone like Knuckles or Espio for a fight? Maybe even Vector too! They're big and strong, and I'm sure they have no objections to that!"

"I... actually, you're not wrong about that... But see... I wanted to do it cause I could test my strength."

"And doing it on me would be the way?"

"...okay so maybe I do fuck up from time to time, so what?! I'm forgetful! It's not like I'm the king of remembering everything! Besides, I don't remember a single god damn thing anyway so, why should it matter? Gah, now I'm getting depressed..."

With the dryer finally finished, Shadow took his dried laundry, placed it into a basket, and walked out as he left me alone in the laundry room. I felt a little bad... I didn't want him to get sad, just... I didn't want to be his personal punching bag. While I messed that up, I did feel I got to see a side of Shadow that people have yet to see.

After we were done, I decided to head back to my room for the meantime.

* * *

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The familiar night time bell chimes rung as I looked up at the monitor, and looked back down, not caring to see Egg Robo's face at all before bed.

"Mm, ahem," he began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

As I laid there, I couldn't help to think back to what happened this morning. Was Sonic right? Was this game truly not over yet? And how long... would it keep going?

All the stress and anxiety I had buried earlier today kept me from falling asleep until late into the night...

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Whenever I spot a cute chao, I have a need to hug and love it. I can't help it! It looks so cute! The other day, I was riding my bike to the train station when I found a shoebox filled with chao eggs! I took it home and what did I discover? That they were chao eggs, they were Egg Robo eggs! And that's the story about how I found out I was, secretly, a chao!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	13. Chapter 2 (Daily Life 3 & 4 (Part 1))

**(AN: Okay I'll be kinda honest, since we're in our little filler portion, it's a bit hard for me to come up with stuff to say... so here's our next few days! Filled with a little hope, and then despair...)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo stood on a space station modeled after his head, staring at planet Mobius from afar on the top of the station._

 _"The moon..." he began. "Decades ago, a dozen astronauts used a computer no more powerful than a pocket calculator to land here. You know, they had guts in those days! Not like nowadays! Nowadays, people probably faint when they see the ground getting smaller and smaller and the sky getting blacker and blacker as they reach into space! But that's beside the point... Little did those same astronauts know that dipshits back on Mobius would use devices one million times more powerful than those old computers just to say that it's one giant conspiracy!"_

 _He then proceeded to sit down. "That kind of makes you wanna give up on your dreams, doesn't it? The fact that no one acknowledges you doing an amazing feat like that?... that's because it's about despair, punks. It's ALWAYS been about despair..."_

* * *

At this point, I didn't even bother hearing Egg Robo's morning message. I just rolled out of bed, covered my ears, and had the biggest unamused look on my face. Once I could faintly hear the sound of the monitor turning off, I knew it was time for the morning breakfast meetings.

But before I did, I decided to take a shower first. As I felt the hot water trickle my back, I couldn't help but think back to yesterday with Sonic. Was he truly going to be okay? Was he setting himself up to be a future murderer? Did Tails' death really mean nothing to him if this is how he's responding to it?

So many questions flew by my head, but by the end of my shower, none of them were solved.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **The Ties that Bring us Together**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 3**

At the breakfast meeting, everyone was there, not counting a certain hedgehog.

"Is... this truly everyone? It really does feel small," Knuckles remarked.

"Maybe because three are dead, and one is abstaining from coming?" Blaze replied.

"Just 13 people here... honestly, I'm surprised you guys keep coming," Silver said to the Babylon Rogues.

"Tch, I'm here for the food. Don't get any funny ideas," Jet replied, eyes closed as he looked annoyed.

"...anyway..." Shadow began. "The real problem here is Sonic. Maybe we should discuss that before we have breakfast? If we don't keep an eye on him, he really will kill someone. You can read it in his eyes and his expressions. It's like the dude is horny about wanting to kill. Alright, we got no choice! Get some rope, and I'm gonna need all the guys to help me bound and gag him!"

"Uh... I mean, don't get me wrong, Shadow... he IS a dick but maybe that is going overboard," I replied.

"Tch, I say that's too light. Board up his room at night! Then he'll never get out!" Jet suggested.

"That's enough!" Knuckles slammed his fists on the table. "Look, we aren't going to mess with him. Whatever he has going on, he'll deal with it. But forget about rope or any other kind of nonsense!"

"The fuck are you going on about you red knucklehead?!" Shadow replied. "What, you wanna use the rope for tug of war? Idiot! The only use we're gonna use it for is making sure Sonic shuts up for the rest of his life!"

"...I'm not a knucklehead... I don't take kindly to your insults, you... you moron!"

"Damn you... who are you calling stupid?!"

Tikal began to look sad, turning her head away from the two boys.

"Huh? Tikal, what's wrong? You don't look so great..." I commented.

"I'm sorry Charmy. I'm just going through a bit of self-loathing..."

"Self-loathing?"

"After how Sonic treated me yesterday, I... I just spent the day in my room and cried. I don't know why though... I'm so used to everyone saying stuff like what he said to me online. I just... I guess hearing it from him only made it worse for me. I know Shadow helped me but... I just wish I was strong enough to take on others but... it's just not in me to do so."

"Ah, so Shadow made you depressed, basically," Wave replied.

"How the hell is it my fault?!" he retorted. "I wasn't trying to be mean! Besides, girls just have... you know, a softer side to them than guys!"

"Care to repeat that again?!"

"Uh... sans you of course?"

Wave sat back down. "That's what I thought you said."

"Look, Tikal. I'm sorry, it's just... someone had to stand up for you. I know you're a pacifist but... I'm sure even the worst of people would try to attack you when you do your protesting stuff. That's why it's important you can defend yourself. Next time, if Sonic does try to start shit with you, don't be scared to ask one of us for help. In the meantime though... the best you can do is start preparing yourself so that if you do encounter him, you can chew him out without getting scared."

"Shadow... I... thank you so much."

"And you have my word that I'll protect you. I had a friend... and I always told her it was of utmost importance to keep any kind of promise. That's why... that's why I feel inclined to defend you all."

"Aww, how sweet!" Jet mocked. "But does that extend to us or are we 'too rude' for you?!"

"Yes, even though you three are total pricks, yes even you all!"

"I don't need defendin'! I can stand up for myself!" Storm cracked his knuckles.

"I know that you moron! I'm just saying!"

"Well, I'll take your word for it, edgehog," Wave replied.

"And what did I say about that name?!"

Everyone laughed, even the Babylon Rogues. Could it be that even at a time like this... they found a way to relate to us? I doubted it but... at least we enjoyed the moment.

And I knew that with Shadow swearing to protect ones who can't fight back, Knuckles as our new leader, and even our 'bullies' actually being nice for a change... I knew that we would get out!

...someday.

And even then, our biggest concern right now was the lone person who didn't show up to breakfast. What could I do to understand Sonic better?

* * *

And so, after breakfast, I returned to my room for some alone time. I wouldn't lie... without a phone or any kind of distractions like play or even work, life really can be boring...

"Alright, time for me to head out," I said, buzzing off of my bed and heading outside.

 **FREE TIME**

As I buzzed down the hall, I couldn't help but notice Storm, who had taped his... pillow to the wall and was punching it. I buzzed up to him, hoping my face wouldn't be next.

"Uh... Storm? What are you doing?" I asked.

"Trainin', kid! What else does it look like?"

"Letting out some steam?"

"That too! I'm tired of being cooped up in here! I need to punch SOMETHING!"

"But... aren't there things in the locker room? I recall there being punching bags and other stuff like that."

Storm stopped punching and looked at me. "Whoa, kid you're serious?!"

"Don't you remember? When we investigated the second floor?"

"I... uhh... I didn't remember it! I told you I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer!... actually, that's more something Wave would say..."

"So... are you gonna go or not?"

"I uh... yeah! Yeah of course I am! You better not be lying, kid!"

"You have my word."

And so, Storm took his pillow off the wall, ran back to his room, and headed out to the second floor. At least I was able to help him...

Buzzing down the hall though, I couldn't help but notice a shirtless Knuckles with a water bottle in hand, returning to his room. Now that I think about it... There wasn't much about Knuckles I knew about. Maybe this could be my time to have some answers?

"Knuckles! Hey, Knuckles!" I yelled, buzzing towards him.

"Ah, Charmy. Glad to see you. I just got done working out and was heading back to my room to cool off."

"Oh... well, would you be down to hang out then? If you're too tired, I understand..."

Knuckles thought about it for a few seconds. "No worries, I'm fine. Just let me do some cool off workouts, and then we'll hang out, okay?"

I nodded as Knuckles headed back inside. I waited outside of his door for a few minutes, and just when I thought he ditched me, he came out of his room with his usual tank top.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Charmy. Come on, let's go anywhere you'd like."

I nodded and buzzed off, footsteps behind me.

* * *

"...do you think Sonic is in the library?"

"More than likely. However, let's not bother him. I'd rather to avoid any kind of confrontation."

"I thought you're all about fighting, Knuckles?"

"That doesn't mean that's all I do."

I grinned.

"Okay, so maybe a LITTLE..."

"Glad to hear you could confess it."

Knuckles and I only made small talk as we walked around the second floor but... even then, I felt that we did get a little closer today. And since we did, the only thing I could do was give him a present. Looking through all of my capsules, I settled on a book of martial arts, and handed it to the echdina.

"What's this?... oh, how interesting!" he said. "I'm not a very good reader but... this is actually a book that interests me! Thank you very much, Charmy."

I smiled, knowing that making Knuckles happy made me happy too!

"So, Knuckles..." I began. "I do have a question I wanna ask... why are you an echidna?"

"Huh?"

"Oh... sorry, I kinda phrased that question wrong. I meant like... how come you and Tikal are the only echidnas I've seen? I heard that the echidna race has slowly been dying out."

"Ah... so you've heard about that too. Very well, I shall entertain you. Listen good, okay?"

"I'm listening!"

"All of the men in my family have been guardians to the Master Emerald for generations. As a result, we've lived on Angel Island all our lives, along with other echidnas too. However, this all changed when the dingoes tried to take over the island ten years ago. It was a bloody war and... many echidnas lost their lives. While we were able to settle peace with them... many had died. Only a few families were able to escape, one of which being Tikal's family I imagine."

"Did you know Tikal before coming here?"

"I didn't, no. Being isolated from everyone else after losing my entire family, and slowly, each of the echidnas dying until I was the last one left... I don't know whether I'd call that a curse or a blessing. As you can imagine, the echidnas have only been growing closer and closer to extinction. No matter how many echidna children are born, it won't replace the rate of echidnas that were lost during that war."

"That sounds... sad. I'm sorry to hear that happened..."

"Do not fret. I've grown used to being alone all of my life. It's... calming, but being around you all... I feel... I feel as if I don't belong."

"That's not true! You belong just like everyone else! Who cares if you've lived on an island for so long?"

"I do."

"Huh?"

"I... I've been alone all my life, I... I don't really know how it is to have social interactions, or even have friends. If anything, I'm surprised you're talking to me of all people. Aren't the others more interesting than me?"

"W-what are you saying? I talked to you because I wanted to!"

"I... you're right. Thank you, Charmy. If you don't mind, I'll be taking my leave. I think I... I talked too much about myself today."

Knuckles turned around and left. I think what he was talking about made him a little sad but... as least I got him to open up, even if it wasn't by too much. And so, I headed back to my room for a little while once I saw him leave my sight.

* * *

After some lunch, I knew I had some more free time, so I headed out with not much left to do. It was there that I saw Jet playing cards with Knuckles outside of the dining hall.

"Uh... guys? Why are you playing on the floor?" I asked.

"What, can't we?!" Jet retorted. "Jeez, it's like you're the king of being judgemental and analyzing everything around you!"

"...speak for yourself. Anyway, you do know that you can play on the table, right?"

"It's fine, Charmy. Jet was just showing me how to play since I don't know how. I'm hoping to win, because I placed a bet," Knuckles replied.

"Oh, that's cool... wait, you BET?!"

"Fuck yeah he bet!" Jet replied. "Gotta win my right for Knuckles to make me a burger for dinner!"

"That's what you bet on?"

"Of course! I'm too lazy to get something for myself, so I gotta win for that right! Too bad it isn't money. I've won plenty of games and made bank back when I used to hang out with pals! ...course I lost some, but whatever! You're getting in the way, bee! This is a best 4 out of 5, and I'm on my way to victory!"

"Well, whatever makes you happy, I guess..."

I buzzed over to Knuckles' side, watching the echidna struggle with the game as he placed down his set. After a few games, Jet had ended it with a straight flush against Knuckles' full house.

"Booyah, I win! Looks like you better make me that burger, Knuckles!" he bragged. The echidna sighed.

"I don't want to do anything with meat..."

"Well toooooooooooooooooo bad! You better live with it!"

Jet gathered his cards and got up from the floor. "I'll come to your room later with everything I want on it! And don't forget a big bottle of ketchup too!"

Knuckles sighed as the hawk snickered to himself, shuffling the cards as he walked away.

"I'm sorry to hear you got stuck with doing that. Mind if I help?"

"I do have a promise to make to him... but thank you, Charmy. It's kind of you to suggest."

"...do you wanna hang out?"

"Surely you aren't bored, are you?"

"I'm not! I just... I wanna hang out, is that bad?"

Knuckles was silent until he got up from the floor. "Very well, let's head to the dining hall and chat, shall we?"

Following him behind, we made small talk for a bit until he got up to get a glass of water. Even though we didn't have a huge earth-shattering conversation, I felt that we got a little closer today. This was followed by trying to find another gift. Remembering what I got him earlier, I found a ring with a jewel on it.

"Knuckles said he guarded something called the 'Master Emerald', right? Maybe he'd like this?" I said to myself. I looked up though, a little sad. "But... Rouge would've liked this..."

When he came back, Knuckles saw the ring I had left for him on the table and examined it.

"W-What are you trying to imply, Charmy?!..." he said, clearly conflicted.

"Huh? What do you mean? It's just a gift."

"Do you... normally gift your friend's rings?"

"I mean, I saw it, and remembering what you said last time, I thought it'd remind you of the Master Emerald."

Knuckles was silent for a bit as he examined it. "I... you're right. It's very thoughtful. Thank you so much."

I smiled, knowing that I made him happy for the second time today made me happy too!

"I don't understand why you want me to open up so much, Charmy... I told you, I'm not a very social person," Knuckles began.

"And I'm not interesting, and yet here you are talking to me!"

"Heh... you say that like we're both on different levels. I may be an Ultimate, but my Ultimate title defines who I am. I'm a guardian first before anything else. That's it, and that's all I'll be. You on the other hand... you have all the chance to make friends, have a family, and live an ordinary life. I... don't have that privilege."

I frowned... was Knuckles really dissatisfied with the life he had? I mean, it made sense but... even someone like him had to have some kind of positivity!

"But at the same time, even you have interesting things you do as well to pass the time!" I argued back.

"Such as?..."

"Well, what about your strength? How are you able to train while guarding a giant emerald all day?"

"It all depends on closeness. I first train by doing martial arts, then I attempt to lift heavy objects around the island. After that is my cooldown period, where I sit under a waterfall and meditate. Afterwards, a good meal with fruits and vegetables is all I need for my energy to come back. Once my meal is done, I usually train each part of my body for one hour, leaving at least time before sunset that I'm able to unwind and relax..."

I smiled, realizing I had gotten him to infodump everything. Knuckles realized it too, as he quickly opened his eyes.

"Wait a minute... you wanted me to share all of that information about me!"

"Ha ha, you got me, Knuckles! See? I told you! Even if you've lived on an island most of your life, even if you never had friends or a family to talk to... you don't need to run from others or be angry and confrontational about them!"

"Then... what do I do?"

"Just talk. That's all you need to do."

Knuckles was silent for a bit before he turned away.

"That's... I never really thought of it like that..."

"Have you never done it?"

"...never. I... I should give it a try, shouldn't I?"

"How about this: why don't you try talking to someone, and we'll see how you do with opening up with someone, okay?"

"Very well... after all, with so many limited things to do, it's only natural I distract myself with such things to do. I'll... I'll be giving it a try, Charmy. And... thank you. It's almost like you're a natural at this."

Knuckles got up from his seat and walked away, leaving me behind in the dining hall. I really wasn't a natural but... I think Knuckles could look up to me as someone he can trust.

With that, I left the dining hall and returned to my room.

* * *

Later that night, I wasn't sure why but... I remembered an incident that happened when I just starting primary zone. A girl who didn't like me stole my pudding cup, and even after telling the teacher, she wouldn't give it back to me and ate it in front of my eyes. I won't lie I... did burst into tears when that happened, but since then, I get the weirdest craving for pudding cups from time to time. This was such a case, so I decided that my 'dinner' for tonight would be some pudding.

I looked in the warehouse, but didn't find any weirdly enough. I then headed to the kitchen, wondering if there was some in the fridge. As I buzzed my way towards the fridge, I spotted Jet licking his fingers.

"Oh, Jet... what happened?" I asked.

"Mmmm, delish! Man, for a vegan weirdo, that Knuckles sure can cook a mean burger!" Jet replied as he finished licking his fingers. "He even made me some fries too, and man that was a meal if I could call it one!"

"Oh, right... your bet. Is Knuckles in there?"

Suddenly, I heard the sound of... two people arguing coming from the dining hall.

"That's your answer, bee kid... sounds like our favorite red echidna's having an argument with the edgehog."

"Wait... with Shadow?! What happened?"

Jet shrugged. "Dunno, I was just drinking the rest of my soda in the kitchen when they decided to start locking tongues. I just left when I had the chance. Suits themselves though, I got my end of our bet, and I'm a happy hawk. As for you, you're welcome to get food, but I don't think you'll come out of there clean." He then proceeded to grin. "'Course, looking like you spent your life on the ground is probably a better look on you! Later, nerd!"

The hawk walked away and snickered as I groaned. Not only was what he saying insulting...

"...but did he REALLY call me a nerd of all things?" I said to myself, slowly shaking my ahead. "What a _geek_."

Regardless, I couldn't be too hung up about it, because I heard the shouting match in the dining hall only get louder. Taking a deep breath, and hoping I REALLY wouldn't get punched for the second time here... I entered the dining hall.

"Ah, Charmy! Perfect timing!" Knuckles yelled as he and Shadow stared at me.

"I was just given the too long wasn't here version by Jet... what happened?" I asked.

"Yeah, I gotta favor to ask! From a friend of course!" Shadow added.

I had a bit of a bad feeling about this. "What kind of favor?"

"You have to be our witness!"

"To what?..."

"Ever since stuffy pants here decided to be our new leader, he's been treating me like a piece of shit and some kind of coward, even implying as if the reason we're not working as a team is because I can't control my temper!"

"Because you are a coward! I recognize that getting physical has a time and a place, however... doing it as much as you do it, you're only hurting yourself!" Knuckles replied.

"...the fuck you say? Look at you, coming here to this zone not saying a single word, and just being a shy fuck. Now look at you, some shit talking fuckhead who thinks he can say whatever he wants just because he's not shy anymore! Besides... you dunno SHIT."

"Continuing to curse like that... it only proves your insecurities."

"And what?! You don't have anything like that too?! Sorry I'm not your little perfect princess! What, want me to be like Charmy or something? Want me to be like..."

Shadow suddenly had to force himself to smile and 'look' cute.

"HEEEEEEYYYYY, IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU!" he said in one of the most forced 'cutesy' voices I've heard.

"I... I sound nothing like that!" I retorted. At least... I hoped I didn't sound like that to others. Shadow shivered and wiped his face.

"Want me to be like that you red idiot? Think you're tougher than me?"

"I KNOW I am!" Knuckles replied as he got into Shadow's face.

"Okay then Mr. Guardian, let's throw down. Prove you got what I don't!"

"Tch, you act like I don't do martial arts and train on a daily basis. You will regret this foolish challenge you've done!"

"...and that's the rundown, so Charmy! You're gonna be our witness!"

I gulped, not wanting to do anything with this. "You're um... not gonna throw punches, are you? I mean... look at Knuckles' gloves! There's spikes on it!"

"There's a bathhouse across the hall, with the sauna inside, remember?" he replied, ignoring my concern.

"Is that our arena?" Knuckles asked.

"Depends, does your little 'training' include endurance?"

"As a matter of fact, it does."

"...you want to see who can stay in the sauna the longest? Very well, I haven't done anything like that at all. So, that's our challenge, Charmy."

"A-And you're okay with that?! Isn't that dangerous?!" I retorted. "I think now I PREFER the fighting to that!"

"Well come on! Don't back down now, knucklehead!"

"This'll be your end, Shadow!"

"LIKE, YOU COULD DIE IN THERE!" I yelled as the two walked passed me towards the bathhouse. I simply frowned... did Jet actually rope me into this on purpose?

"Man... and I still want my pudding cup..."

* * *

As I entered the bathhouse, I could already see Shadow and Knuckles stripped down into nothing but towels.

"Okay, uh... guys? I know you're like... angry," I began. "But are you REALLY going to go through with this?"

"Stop fuckin' around, Charmy! Of course we are!" Shadow replied.

"I've taught myself how to breathe and relax in situations like this. Under lakes, waterfalls, intense heat... I believe you'll be done in a manner of minutes, Shadow," Knuckles replied. Once again, Shadow got close to the other's face.

"Three words. BRING. IT. ON."

"And to think I had to talk you out of doing this with our clothes on. It's like you do wish to die."

"Wait, he WHAT?!" I replied. "That's idiotic AND suicidal!"

"And you're a loud-mouth!" Shadow replied. "Now shut up, and let's do this!"

The two walked into the bathhouse, with Shadow grabbing his clothes, and slammed the door behind them. I only watched through the windows as the hedgehog and echidna's faces grew red and their bodies sweat. I could see their muscles tense up as they began to breath heavy. This continued for a few minutes... which turned into ten minutes... which turned into half an hour.

"H-Hey, Shadow..." I heard Knuckles say.

"What, asshole?"

"...still gonna do the clothes yet?"

"Go fuck yourself and mind your own business. You talked me out of it, but you fucking know I'd win with it on or off. Look at you... you probably never been in a real god damn sauna!"

"I was... born red... for your information!"

"You don't have to... act all big, man... You're free to take the loss..."

Now I could hear heavy breathing from Shadow, and my concern for them only grew.

"Act? Ha... ha ha ha! Oh, you crack me up! I've been in worse situations before... something like a sauna... it can't kill me! In fact, Charmy... serve me a bowl of soup!"

"Yeah, NO," I shook my head. I simply fell to the floor and let my back rest on the door to the sauna. Would they... really be okay?

I simply lay on the floor as an hour had already passed. An hour of them STILL in the sauna, not budging at all. I buzzed up to the window, where their sweating had gotten even worse as their quills were messier and made them look more rugged.

"Don't you..." Knuckles took a few deep breathes. "...think it's time you gave up?"

"And what about you?" Shadow also took deep breathes. "You can... hardly talk... dumbass..."

"Say what you wish... I plan to see this until the end... I... I strangely feel cold though..."

"I don't... think that's good..."

"So uh..." I began. "I know we're doing the battle for masculinity here, but... don't you think it's time you came out?"

"SHUT UP!" the two yelled from the sauna.

Looks like I can't win...

And just then, the night time announcement played. My face fell... did... did Knuckles or Shadow hear that? Were they going to stay there all night?!

"Mm, ahem," Egg Robo began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

"Uh... guys? We have a curfew you know..." I said. "Why don't we call it a tie?"

"There's... no such thing as a tie!" Knuckles replied. "You either succeed or fail... there IS no in-between!"

"You son of a bitch... listen to you!" Shadow added. "Bring it on... I'll send you to the depths of hell..."

"Uh, guys?! This REALLY isn't good!" I continued to yell.

"Yeah, you hear him, Knukkie? It's time for your bed time... Charmy will go prepare your bed and get your favorite PJs... Don't worry, I'll let EVERYONE know how it went!"

Knukkie?! Was he already coming up with pet names?...

"Heh, easy for you to say... ShadEW... because... once you fall down to your knees... I'll show you where to do it!"

My eyes widened when I heard that. I hadn't been looking at the window but... what were they talking about?...

"Big talk from someone who... looks like they're gonna explode!..."

"S-Same with you!"

I simply looked at the door, allowing the boys to enjoy their euphemisms. At least, I HOPED they were euphemisms...

"Well... if you're not gonna budge, then... then good night! Enjoy your... whatever you're doing in there!" I announced, not hearing a response. I turned around and buzzed out of the bathhouse, but not before hearing the two loudly grunt.

"Gaia, I HOPE it's a euphemism..."

* * *

With the dining hall closed, I had to settle with some cake snacks from the warehouse as my dinner. It wasn't the world's most ideal dinner but... anything sweet helps me.

As I rubbed the crumbs from my hand, I thought back to Shadow and Knuckles.

"I really hope those two don't overdo it... Like, they wouldn't... die... Nah, they wouldn't go that far. Besides, how would that class trial go? 'Oh, the killer was the sauna! Now the sauna gets executed!'"

I looked around. "Gosh, I shouldn't be making light of something so tragic..."

Flopping back to bed, I shot the wrapper of the snack into the trash as I lay on my comfy bed. With not much to do, and the only thing being Shadow and Knuckles on my mind... they were the only things I had thought about until I succumbed to sleep.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"If fate does exist... then does that mean your future is decided the moment you're born? If that's the case... is my future destined to be the arch enemy of a bunch of walking, talking animals? Did yesterday's pile up to create this specific future? And would this future end up being for nothing if all I keep doing is lose, lose lose? I just dunno! And that's why I'm still alive, because I dunno! That's why I desperately cling to life!_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

I shot up in bed and robotically turned to the monitor. The daily message, yada yada...

But most important of them all...

"If I find two bodies in the sauna, I swear to Gaia I'm quitting," I said flatly, getting out of bed and not caring about my morning shower as I buzzed quickly to the dining hall. But when I entered...

I saw them both, but not just them... Shadow had his arm around Knuckles' shoulder, the two in very high spirits.

"Pfhahaha! And what, that's it bro?" I heard Shadow say

Knuckled chuckled like a schoolgirl. "And what are YOU talking about, bro?"

"What the?... guys?" I said.

"Hey, Charmy!" Shadow called over. "Thanks for being our witness! I know you like, totally ditched, but you still refereed!"

"Uh... when did you guys get all buddy buddy?"

"All morning!" Knuckles replied. "Having a friend... gosh, you were right about what you said, Charmy! It's so invigorating!"

"More like it feels sickly sweet..." Amy commented. "Besides, I'll say! You're normally all brooding and edgy, and NOW you're suddenly sunshine and rainbows?"

"Cause I'm with my bro!" Shadow replied.

"And to think when I do this with my Darling Sonic... he just pushes me away!"

"That's cause he doesn't get it either! Besides, sickly sweet? Hell no, more like great AND sweet!"

"Now I think I'M starting to come up with euphemisms for that statement!"

Glad to see I wasn't the only one...

"Eh, forget about her, bro! She doesn't know what manly bonds are!" Knuckles added. "Relations between two men is stronger than blood! I remember that's what the echidnas on Angel Island always taught..."

"What a fucking quote, bro! Maybe I should get a tattoo of it..." Shadow replied as the two laughed and brought their heads closer to each other's.

"Whatever you want, I don't mind! Just as long as it doesn't hurt... I've seen traditional tattoo making and uh... it's not very clean!"

"So, uh... I know we're having a huge sausage party right now but... who won last night?" I asked,

"Who gives a shit about that?!" Shadow retorted. Knuckles pointed at me afterwards.

"Don't ask stupid questions, Charmy! What matters is that we both came out of it as different men!"

"That's completely different from how you were last night!" I said.

"A bond between men as deep as this..." Espio mused. "It seems it's something not even I can understand properly..."

"I feel yeh," Vector replied, drinking from his cup of coffee. "Can't say I've had a friendship like theirs."

"Espio, you do have a point though..." Tikal said. "Who knew that friendship between two men is different from the friendship between two girls..."

And sure enough, all throughout breakfast, I think the word 'bro' was burned into whatever part of my brain kept information. The room was just dominated by Knuckles and Shadow's 'brotherhood'... so much so that I found myself in the mood for a steak for some reason.

* * *

After getting Knuckles and Shadow to get the 'manliest steak ever', mainly not only because they wanted to, but also I never cooked one, I returned to my room after my 'breakfast'.

"Hmm... what to do today?"

My question was cut off by my doorbell ringing.

"The doorbell?"

Buzzing over to the door, I opened the door and saw Amy's perky self in my doorframe.

"Heya, Charmy!" she said. "I'm glad to see you haven't gone anywhere! Listen, can you do me a favor?"

"A favor?"

"See, there's this place I REEEEEEEEALLY want you to go to with me..."

"And where is it?"

"It's... um... the library..."

"The library? That doesn't seem like your kind of place. Unless they have like, books about shopping."

"Oh, I'm not there to check out books... it's um..."

"If I had to guess... this is about-"

"You know! Come on, Charmy! Let's go!"

Amy grabbed my arm and dragged me to the library. I still didn't understand... even after watching him break down and being physically assaulted, how was she still into him?

* * *

"Charmy, shh! Be quiet as you go in!"

"Aren't we already being a little too loud, though?"

"As long as he doesn't see us, he'll never know!"

I frowned, and then very slowly and quietly opened the door. Unsurprisingly, Sonic was still in the same chair he was in, with the same mug of coffee by his side, and a different book in his hand.

"He's here and... all alone... I swear to you my Darling Sonic... I'll try and find a way to help you!" Amy said. "Okay Charmy, act natural and talk to him!"

"Huh?"

"Stop being loud! Just... go and do it! Please?"

"Why don't you do it?"

"He's not gonna listen to me... but I think he'll listen to you!... hopefully..."

"You're not even sure?!"

"Just go! It'll be fine! I promise!"

Gulping, I buzzed over to Sonic, not even wanting to stare at him in the eye.

"Hey... Hey Sonic, ol' buddy..." I said, forcing myself to be nice to him. "How ya... how ya doing? Do you want... more coffee?"

Sonic only looked up at me slowly. "Hey you... what are doing here? You know out of everyone here, I ESPECIALLY hate having to look at you."

"Uh... being your personal assistant?"

"Oh yeah? Well go tell the personal assistant factory that I don't need you here. Now hurry up and leave... and while you're at it, take HER with you."

Amy got up from her hiding spot, looking guilty. "S-Sonic?... remember how you said that I should be someone who dominates over all to show who I am to the world?"

"I never said such a ridiculous thing."

"Well... I thought it sounded like something you'd say now that you're... this."

"Like I'm this?... what, am I freakshow attraction to you? Both of you, get out... having to deal with this bee is annoying, but having to deal with YOU two both? Maybe the next death will happen sooner than we thought, and it'll be me blowing my brains out because of having to with you two."

"But-"

"No buts. GO! And while you're at it, girl... at least look presentable if you're going to face me."

We didn't argue, we only left the library like Sonic forced us to.

* * *

Amy ruffled her hair as we left the library. "Augh! It's so frustrating that he wants no help from us!"

"Vector was right you know... this is his way of grief. It's not healthy but..."

"Sonic... to be like that..."

She then stars in her eyes as she held her hands together. "It only motivates me more! I think that secretly, he cares deep down for me to be worried about how I look! Gah, if only there was a shopping center here... then I think I'd buy the fanciest clothes money could buy and that I can get discounts on!"

"Huh?"

"Hey Charmy... what do you think? Do you think Sonic and I... are still compatiable?"

If Tails was still alive? Perhaps, but now? Heavens no.

"I mean... I don't know really."

"Man... if only there was some kind of writer here... then I could write as many passionate stories about me as possible! Who knows, maybe they could write so much that the amount of content between me and Sonic will soon become oversaturated and cliched, but I'll still read it no matter what!"

Okay... I think you're going TOO far at this point.

"One day, I think you'll understand Charmy... well, bye bye! And thank you so much for the help! You really did inspire me!"

As Amy skipped down the hall, I simply looked at her. It's true she was a nice girl but... sometimes she can be delusional to the stuff going on around her.

And then, to only ruin my day more, Egg Robo suddenly popped up, startling me.

"Oh, jeez!" I said, scared.

"Ahh, young love!" he replied.

"Will you stop doing that?!"

"Who would have thought that Amy is STILL trying to go after Sonic? Now this really IS feeling like a fanfiction genre that's oversaturated and cliched, isn't it?"

"I... I wouldn't know anything about that!"

"Of course you do. I mean, you only have... what? Less than 250 stories? That just only proves how boring you are! But just remember, Charmy! Eager passion can also be scary! Sometimes, it could be leading people to the wrong direction."

"And what Amy is doing is... wrong?"

"I wouldn't say wrong, just... weird! Ho ho ho!"

Egg Robo disappeared, and I only looked straight ahead. All of a sudden, I felt exhausted, and decided that it'd be for the best to head back to my room for the time being.

* * *

After taking a brief nap, I decided since there was still time, maybe I could hang out with someone. I wanted to avoid Amy and Sonic for now... so now my only question was: Who could I hang out with?

It was then that Shadow came out of his room from the down hall. I know I've been talking to Shadow a lot but... I dunno, I guess I found myself interested in who he was as a person.

"Shadow, I had my mind tested by Amy and Sonic today," I yelled from down the hall. "Can you please hang out with me?"

That was all Shadow needed to come by over, pap my head, leave, hand me a juice box, and tell me: 'Let's hang out'.

And so, as we sat against the wall, we enjoyed our little free time together just chatting. I was going to give him another gift, but then he stopped me.

"Please, no..." he said. "It's so nice that you wanna give me this stuff, Charmy. However... there's no need for presents when just your presence is good enough as is. It's... it's nice to have friends like you and Knuckles."

"How have you and Knuckles been doing?"

"Oh, he's doing fine. Just relaxing after a workout. I was about to get a water when I saw you and you called me over. Actually, since we're here, is it fine if I can talk about something?"

"Hm? What's up?"

I put down my juice box, wondering what he wanted.

"Have you, owned a chao?"

"What?"

"Tell me! B-Before I beat you up!"

I almost chuckled, it sounded like his threats towards me were now forced. But regardless, I knew I had to be honest.

"Oh, yeah, I have a chao. His name is Cheeseburger, and he was this dark shade of blue. I remember he always loved oranges especially."

"Ha ha, now you get me!"

"Did you have one too?"

"Yeah, a dark chao."

"S-Seriously?! I heard they're real rare! Like, people will breed Chao for hours to get a dark or light Chao!"

"Well... true, but I loved that little guy so much. We did everything together at least until... that happened."

"Huh?"

"I don't like to talk about it, but... let's just say I had to give up my little buddy to a Chao Garden cause I couldn't raise him anymore. It was awful to do so, and... I still miss him."

"H-Hey, don't worry about it! I'm sure when we get out, we can find him!"

"We?..."

"Well... yeah! Cause we're friends, you know? It only makes sense that I help you!"

"Hmph... while that would be appreciated... I just hope nothing bad happens. And plus... what if he forgot about me?"

Shadow then turned his head to the side. "Damn... I didn't want to be seen like this. I... I gotta go!"

Getting up, the black hedgehog ran off as I was left behind, confused. Regardless of what happened... I feel like I not only got to know a bit more about Shadow, but see even more sides of him that I didn't know.

With that, I got up from the floor and buzzed back to my room.

* * *

 **LATER THAT NIGHT...**

After returning to my room after a dinner that Silver and Amy planned, I didn't even get the chance to unwind on my bed when I heard...

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

"Huh?..." I said aloud. Wasn't it too early for bed time?

"Ahem, zone announcement, zone announcement!" Egg Robo said after the monitor displayed the zone crest.

"Zone announcement? What's going on?" I looked at the screen with intense curiosity.

"Nighttime is quickly approaching, but before that... all students, please gather in the gym immediately! It's an emergency!"

The TV shut off as I was left with questions. Gathering in the gym? Emergency? And... why now? I didn't like the sound of this, I didn't like what was happening... and I had a terrible feeling.

With wide eyes, I exited my room, where I saw Vector with his back facing towards me.

"Vector! What's going on?" I asked.

"If I had to guess... it's a new motive. Egg Robo got bored that we haven't killed again..."

"No... please, oh no I hope it's not this again..."

"Tragically... I dun wanna go either, but... we dun have any other choice. I can't imagine what Egg Robo is gonna say, but I know it ain't gonna be good news. However, let's not defy him here and now."

Vector walked off as I simply stared at him. I really can't do anything except what Egg Robo tells me...

And so, I buzzed forward, passing by Shadow.

"Shadow! Has... everyone gone ahead?" I asked.

"Looks that way. I don't like this one bit... but nothing good is gonna come from ignoring that goddamn egg."

"Shadow... are... are you sure you're okay? I know things have been going good with you and Knuckles, and our conversations, but... the sauna, and now this?"

"Tch, that doesn't phase me at all. But you know... I think now I know what it means to be all of me. And to think I never saw it coming. Anyway, let's go to the gym."

Shadow walked off too, leaving me conflicted. Whatever happened to them in the sauna... it must have been unique. But regardless... I buzzed forward, going along the creepy hallway and to the pathway to the gym.

* * *

As I entered the lobby of the gym, I saw Big standing by the door.

"Hey Big, how come you haven't gone in yet?" I asked.

"Augh! Mr. Charmy Bee! You scared me..." he replied, jumping.

"S-Sorry... but we really should go inside."

"I... I don't wanna go! I don't think you should go either! It's... it's not gonna be good! I just know it..."

"I know you wanna skip, but we can't just ignore it."

"You're right... we have no choice... If only Froggy were here, he'd make me feel better..."

Big entered inside the gym as I took a deep breath and headed inside too. There, I saw everyone gathered in the gym, even Sonic surprisingly.

"...Asking us to gather together all of a sudden... what does he want?" Knuckles said. "Ah, Charmy, Big, you're just in time."

"I think they're luckier to be late," Jet replied. "Man, I can't WAIT to see what kind of ultra-mega death machine he has this time..."

"I think he's keeping things interesting, that's for certain..." Sonic said, smirking.

"Augh, enough with your little murder fetish, hedgehog!" Storm replied.

"How is this interesting?... Can you smile for once and not about something bad?..."

Sonic looked at Big and gave him the most forced grin ever. What only made it creepier was how slowly it took him to make the face.

"IS... THIS... better?..." the hedgehog replied.

"No!" Amy replied. "It's... it's messed up if you can laugh at a time like this! Normally your smile is to die for but... now it's inappropriate!"

"Please, no comments from the peanut gallery. Which one of us is REALLY the messed up one?"

"Huh?"

"I'm not stating anything. Just admiring. I don't want to kill anyone, but I don't wanna stay here, living in denial day after day. I think you know a thing or two about denial, don't you, Amy? I was just admiring how you could live like that and still keep your sanity."

"I'm not in denial..."

"Which reminds me, remember how you kept talking about how the police or whoever would come and help us? How did that turn out? It looks like no one's coming to our rescue and being our knight in shining armor, like how you see me as."

"T-That's just... I wonder what actually happened now that I think about it..."

"It's strange, that's fer sure," Vector added. "There's no way the cops wouldn't know 'bout it. We're right in the middle of a major urban area. Anyone could access the warp ring here."

"Maaaan, the cops suck!" Jet sucked his teeth. "And I know especially! I deal with them all the time when we stea-"

"Jet, language," Wave replied, cutting him off.

"On the contrary..." Blaze began. "The mastermind may be just that powerful to take control of even the authorities."

"Actually, this is unrelated-" Silver began before being cut off.

"Then don't say it."

"Too late! Gonna say it! So... I was up late last night in the main hall when I heard... it."

"What is... it?" Espio replied.

"A sound that I can't really describe. If I had to describe it... I think it's a construction site?"

"A construction site?"

"Don't take my word for it, of course! I only heard it briefly!"

"Then you definitely made it up!" Jet crossed his arms. "Must have been the sound of the ocean in that delusional head of yours!"

Then all of a sudden, a mysterious voice bounced against the walls.

"Yo, Jet, Imma let you finish but..."

We all stared forward towards the podium. I got flashbacks to when we first arrived, and just like last time, Egg Robo bounced upwards and landed straight onto the podium.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	14. Chapter 2 (Daily Life 4 (Part 2) & 5)

"HELLO!" Egg Robo yelled.

"Jeeeez, no need to be so loud!" Jet complained.

"Sorry Jettums, it's just been a while since the last part, I figure the dear reader needed a reminder that I exist!"

"And he's certainly makin' an entrance..." Vector muttered.

"Anyway... Silver! What you were talking about just now! What you heard wasn't the sound of construction... but it could have been an explosion!"

"Pardon?" I asked, confused. How in the heck could an explosion sound like a construction site?

"Or maybe it was a machine gun... that could kinda sound like construction in a way!"

"What on earth are you going on about?"

"Ah ah ah! There is no earth! Only Mobius! C'mon, Mr. Charmy Bee! You were in science class! And besides, beyond this point, my mouth is zipped and my lips are sealed, I'm fully puckered like I just ate a bag full of Warheads!"

"Okay okay... then move on to what yeh CAN tell us," Vector replied, annoyed. "Well, why didja call us all here?"

"You don't beat around the bush, do you? Ready for me to get to the point, huh? But... before that, you mind if I vent a little?"

Egg Robo slumped his shoulders and turned away from us. "I'm low on energy these days. My shell even looks less shiny. It's like I'm turning into one of those century eggs! And you know, I'm thinking... It might have something to do with this boring, old, and everyday life. I'm looking for something with a little more stimulation, something rife with danger and intrigue! Listen, can I just be frank? The next blackened hasn't shown up yet and I'm getting booooooooored!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Storm said. "You already got your murderer a few days ago! Now you want another one? You're selfish!"

"What, you THINK I like waiting? It's true I could prolong this game even more... but I'm not gonna! I love the thrill of trials and killing so much that I've decided to come up with a new way to motivate you!"

"Motivate?!" I exploded. "This... this isn't another set of videos, is it?!"

I thought back to my video... the burned down colony, my family being nowhere in sight... "Are you gonna show us some demented thing to try and drive us all to murder?!"

"Drive you to murder?!" Egg Robo questioned. "How rude! Just awful!"

"I don't know what you have planned... but this killing game nonsense ends now! We promised each other: no more murders!" Knuckles replied.

"Dude, we never said a god damn thing like that..." Jet replied.

"Wow, finally growing a back bone, eh Mr. Knuckles?" Egg Robo began to laugh. "That's big talking coming from you. Do your very best to back it up, okay? Now then, with all of your permission, let me begin! This time, our motive is embarrassing memories and secrets! As long as you're alive, there's things I'm sure no one wants to know about other people. Even I have things like that too, oh but don't expect me to say anything! I'm still silent! But... I did a little investigating and dug up ALL of your darkest secrets!"

Egg Robo reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a set of envelopes, displaying them very proudly. "And those memories and secrets are all right here! I'm gonna hand them out now, so take a second to take a peak!"

Throwing them high into the air, the envelopes all fell at our feet as we all collected the letter we owned. I found mine by Blaze's feet, and nervously looked at it. With shaking hands, I pulled out the paper inside.

And then... my body went rigid when I read what it said.

 **"Charmy was scared of the dark until his final year of Primary Zone, only being able to sleep with a special pot of honey he called 'Lucky'."**

"What the?!" I said, wondering how Egg Robo got this information.

"Oh, heavens no! Where did you find this?!" Tikal exclaimed, holding her envelope to her chest.

"This... no one was supposed to know about this!" Knuckles said, unhinged.

Everyone started talking at once. Some hid their envelopes, others crunched it up, while I could see some of their faces going pure white.

"You ALL have 24 hours! If someone doesn't become blackened by then... EVERY SINGLE ONE of your secrets will be exposed to the world! Even the ones you probably went to therapy for! HO HO HO! Maybe I'll even roll by in Central City, going to the MOST crowded intersection in a van strapped with the best loudspeaker's money can buy and spill the beans one by one! Wouldn't that be so embarrassing? Like, what if I said something like... Silver almost starred in Sonic Boom, but was too fat and was cut from the cast!"

"Hey, I take offense to that!" he replied. All of a sudden, Silver looked confused. "Wait... what's a Sonic Boom?"

"Whatever!" I said. "This is what you mean by motivate?!"

"You got it! They're all pretty unpleasant, trust me! None of you want me to reveal that stuff, right? And trust me Charmy, I think everyone will be laughing at you when they know about it!"

I shut my mouth as I pictured everyone in the room learning my secret, all of them pointing and laughing at me. I could picture their voices and their faces. Jet would call me a doofus and laugh in my face, Wave and Storm would say I'm nothing more than a kid and tease me if I was too scared to sleep at night and if I 'needed' Lucky, Sonic would laugh in the hopes of spiting me, others would giggle because they found it amusing, and Silver would ask if I wanted some of his shaved ice even though I dunno how he got it, or what he was even doing in my fantasy in the first place being out of character.

I shook my head though, because even if it wasn't something I'd rather have people not know about me...

"...we'd never kill over something like that!"

"What... did you just say?!"

"That's right! Your plan is doomed to fail... after all, murdering over something like this? It's pure cowardice!" Knuckles replied.

"Oh no... Is it because, for better or worse, your memory is still a way to connect to the outside world? This... is kinda depressing... After all, I have stuff I wouldn't want anyone to know no matter what, so I assumed you'd all be the same. I even put so much effort into preparing this next motive!" Then, Egg Robo stomped on the ground, throwing a tantrum. "It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not faiiiiiiiir! You're saying you really won't kill each other over this stuff? NOT FAIR!"

"Shove it with your little tantrum," Wave growled. "It was planned to fail. Your first plan may have been smart, but this? This is just foolish!"

"No need to rub it in! Fine! So, in the next 24 hours, I'll expose all your secrets just to make myself feel a little better! This is so sad, and I'm so depressed..." Egg Robo then sniffled. "Farewell!"

With a look of depressed dejection, Egg Robo disappeared, leaving us all behind.

"I didn't know what to expect at first but... I think that stopped him," Tikal took a few breaths, not letting her paper go. "It feels weird though... naturally, we all have embarrassing things but... is it worth killing for that? It's... it's juvenile! Please friends, if you are having second thoughts on killing... it's not worth it. You're giving Egg Robo more of what he wants doing that."

"In fact..." Knuckles said. "Perhaps we should reveal our secrets. This should give us no reason to kill if we confess what's in them. I mean, what could be so bad that you'd want to kill another person for something about YOUR life?"

"I... I don't wanna hear your story!" Amy said, looking pure white in the face. I could tell that her hands were shaking as she looked like she was about to collapse from a panic attack.

"Amy... are you alright?"

"I... I don't wanna talk about it! Knuckles... it's nice that you care but... I don't want to reveal it!"

"Neither do I," replied Blaze. "Not because it's unpleasant, but because it's impossible."

"But... Ms. Blaze the Cat... I think Knuckles has a good point," Big said, frowning.

"Absolutely not."

"B-But... it does sound like a good idea..."

"As I said-"

"Could you, please? Then we don't have to think you'll kill next... please? I'm hoping I ask nicely..."

"HEY!" Blaze got her nasty look again as she displayed her fangs, flares coming out once again from her hands. "I said I don't WANT to talk about it, you piece of cat lard!"

"Augh! That's not nice! I just thought it could help us not kill..."

"Yeah, what gives!" Silver replied.

"She brings up a point..." Sonic added. "There's no need to discuss it."

"Uh... Storm? How about you?" Knuckles asked.

"Like hell I'd reveal it!"

"Looks like everyone's against it, bro," Shadow replied. "And... yeah, I'm saying no too."

"W-Well that's okay then. It's just a few secrets, so I'm sure there's no reason to murder like I said."

"Is there?" Wave replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I get where you're coming from, Wave..." Sonic smirked. "One of these secrets has to do with something so awful... we'd kill if it meant never letting anyone know. I say you all watch your backs from here on out."

"Oh, shove it up, Sonic," I replied. "I hope that wasn't you agreeing with Wave."

"Oh, no worries... I WILL and I WAS, Charmy. But if you're the next one to end up dead or the blackened... well, I just hope your few seconds of fame were worth it."

I bit my lip though. A secret that was so bad you'd kill if it meant nobody would know? Nobody had something like that... at least, I hoped they didn't.

"Well, seeing as how we refuse to let our secrets be known..." Knuckles said. "I think that we have 24 hours before we face scrutiny. It might not be fun but... at least we can say we defied Egg Robo. So, I beg of you all... don't do something hasty."

"Dude, the way you keep repeating it makes me worry even more!" Jet argued. "Now I'm more convinced someone is gonna kill! Maybe even you yourself!"

"I... what?!"

Just then, the 10 PM bell played, and soon the nighttime message from Egg Robo played after a display of the zone crest. Once he was done, Silver sighed.

"So, it looks like it's nighttime already. Okay, let's call it a day, guys."

"Good idea, we must prepare for tomorrow," Espio said. "This will be tough but... we're all here as friends to endure it."

"Tch, I thought we said we weren't friends with anyone but ourselves..." I heard Wave mutter.

As others talked, I watched Amy sulk away from the group and lay her back against the bleachers. I wanted to say something to her, but I just couldn't. I was left with an anxiety I couldn't shake. However, we left things as they were, and left things as they lay. And so, one by one, we headed back to our rooms.

* * *

As I lay in my bed, I couldn't help but think back to our motive: Embarrassing secrets and memories.

Secrets or memories you don't want anyone to know about... And a way to connect outside of the ring dimension.

Honestly, all that crap Egg Robo was spouting didn't even have an effect on me. I mean, he made it clear that we couldn't get out of here. So, how could he? So many holes in his little speech, and yet still couldn't catch it.

I grabbed my helmet and turned in my bed, knowing that there was no one who would kill someone over stuff like that.

At least, that's what I thought. Maybe I was just being too optimistic.

And as I rested that night, little did I know that my fears had come true. Because during that night...

A tragedy was taking place.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Hey, do you have a second? I wanna confide in you... Have you ever thought about attitudes across the world? The difference between passive and active, I mean. Are you catching my drift? For example, there's a different meaning when you say 'Oops, I killed him!' and 'Yeah that's right, I killed him.'. Amazingly, there are tons of people who don't understand the difference, like... can you believe it?! But... there's a HUGE difference between 'Oops!' and 'That's right'. Anyone can kill someone in the heat of the moment, but only very few could do it with calculated intent. To make that choice, then put it into action... it's way harder than just letting your emotions lead you. It's all about preparation and resolve! So I'm sure after reading my MASSIVE monologue, you're probably asking yourself now, 'Where am I going with this?'. Well... I'm not totally sure myself! So read between the lines, you lazy-butt!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

"...morn...ing..."

"...goo...d..."

"Goo...d... MORNINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!"

I screamed, falling out of my bed as I hit my head against the stand behind me, causing my helmet to be the next target for my head.

"Ho ho ho! Nice reaction to that!" Egg Robo said as he towered above me. "I'm glad to see you didn't dissapoint!"

"Oh Gaia..." I said. "It's bad enough to hear your message every morning, but now you're WAKING me up in person?!"

"How rude! You know my wonderful figure is the first thing you wanna see! Maybe I should start waking you up every morning... how does that sound?"

"NO! Besides, what are you doing here anyway?!"

"I wanted to spice things up! So, instead of a school announcement, I decided to wake you up in person!"

"What for?! And besides, just me?"

"Because it's fun, and don't worry, the others will get their fun too! And, as long as I'm here, I figured I'd let you hear it right from the Egg's mouth."

"Hear what?"

"Ho ho ho... look at you, acting so laid back almost like you didn't get caught with naughty magazines by your parents! Are you sure you should be doing that? Even when something happened to one of your buddy-buddy classmates?"

I rose up from where I laid, eyes widening.

No... this... he couldn't mean what I thought, did he?!

"Wuhwuhwuh-what? Your face is all white, like someone who just got caught in a major lie!" Egg Robo asked, head tilted.

"What... what happened... who was it?" I breathed. "What are you talking about first of all?!"

"Ho ho ho! That's for me to know and for you to find out! So, good luuuuck!"

Egg Robo vanished as I got up from the floor and began to shake. Something's happened to someone... If it was another murder...

No... no, I can't believe it! I just have to see... I have to find out if my friends are okay!

But... I was conflicted. If it was a murder... did someone really... do that? Over a secret? And what if-

No, what ifs were secret. Especially now... I needed to go to the dining hall immediately!

* * *

Buzzing there as quick as I could buzz, I saw Espio, Tikal, Silver, Wave and Sonic all sitting around. I bit my lip, realizing there was a lot of people missing.

"Ah, Charmy! Thank the gods you're okay..." Tikal began, holding her hands together.

"Yo man... are you okay?" Silver asked.

"He seems to be doing as fine as fine can be, Silver. Besides, at least we can take you off the list of possible victims. But that still leaves so many others..." Wave said, holding up her glasses. "It could be anyone at this point."

"Did Egg Robo talk to you too?" Espio asked.

"Y-Yeah..."

"I was pissed when he woke me up," Silver began. "But... argh, c'mon! We just had another murder! Are we gonna go through another one?..."

"If we are... well, I just hope it won't end with us dying and the killer getting off scot free," Wave replied.

"And besides, we'll catch the killer! Since nobody's gonna blame Charmy, it should be easier! Don't worry, Charmy! I'll clear your name of possible suspects!"

...I didn't know whether that was good for me or good for his ego.

"Regardless, it looks like everyone who's here is me, Tikal, Espio, Wave, Silver, and..."

I looked at Sonic, who had his arms crossed. "...Sonic. You're the only ones here? Where's everyone else?"

"I think they're off verifying what Egg Robo said... or, they've become our second victim to the 'something' Egg Robo mentioned," replied Sonic.

"And you haven't seen any of the missing people today?"

Everyone shook their head.

"Why are we thinking of murder at a time like this..." Tikal cried. "I'm just hoping it's not something like that..."

She had a point. As much as the possibility seemed more likely, I wanted to throw out the idea that it was murder as fast as I could.

"Hey... s-so if something really DID happen..." Silver said. "Does that mean someone did it cuz of what happened yesterday?"

"It... it shouldn't be! It was just old memories! Embarrassing at most, yes... but not something you have to kill over! Why... why does Egg Robo think everything has to be solved by killing?"

"It wasn't JUST 'old memories'," Sonic spoke up. "Someone felt it was more important than that."

"Huh?"

"To judge someone else's values based on your own outlook... Do you realize how dangerous that is?"

"And why didn't you say a thing, yesterday? Silver retorted.

"Tch, did you already forget? This isn't a co-op game. It's every man for himself. What good does it do for me to help out any one of you?"

"You're just the worst..." Tikal lowered her gaze. "Stop this!"

"Stop what? Saying the truth? You may continue to live in your pacifist bubble, girl. But I'm just letting you know in case it's the worst-case scenario."

"Yo, Tikal..." Silver said. "Just leave him alone. He's probably like brainwashed or something."

"What's important now is that we find out what happened to everyone," Espio said.

"You got a point, chameleon," Wave said. "Alright, I'm heading out. Hopefully... Jet and Storm are okay..."

She walked away as Sonic got his smug look back.

"Well, I suppose you all look too... I think this game is only going to get much more interesting here..."

Walking off, Tikal sighed.

"Why... why does nobody understand that fighting and bloodshed solves nothing?"

"Unfortunately, not everyone has peace in mind. They care about power, and they care for selfish desires," Espio said. "I think it only shows just how much of a victim we are to this murder game."

"...you're right. Okay, Wave was right. Let's split up."

Tikal, Espio, and Silver made their ways out of the dining hall as I was left alone. I was worried about what would happen, especially with a murder on our tails. But... I knew I had to suck it up.

* * *

Leaving the dining hall, I had seen Tikal going down the dorms, banging and ringing the doorbells on each door and waiting for a reply. Once she was finally done, I took my chance to talk to her.

"Oh, Charmy, you're here!" she said, surprised. "I knocked on all the doors, but nobody answered. Do you all think... they went to see what happened?"

"Yeah, but where is that thing that happened?"

"...perhaps in the second floor?"

"Second floor?"

"Yeah, it's all new to us, so it's only natural that... No, I don't even want to think about it."

With that, I widened my eyes as I buzzed down the dorms and the 1st floor lobby, passing by Silver as he was using his ESP to lift all the furniture to look for any clues. Going up the stairs, I first decided to check the locker room to my left once I got to the second floor. When I entered... I couldn't help but be confused.

The door to the boy's locker room was open. But... wasn't it normally locked?

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

Now I was even more confused. Why was a message for Egg Robo playing through when it shouldn't normally be doing that?

The zone crest displayed, and Egg Robo's voice played through the speakers.

"For this investigation, I have unlocked the doors. Please look around to your heart's content!" he said. Once the screen turned off, my heart flared.

"I-Investigation?!" I sputtered. And then, I heard someone come in. Turning around, I saw... him-

Sonic.

"Just as I thought..."

"S-Sonic! What are you doing here?!"

He crossed his arms as his smug look appeared again. "Judging from what he just said, there can be no doubt a murder really has taken place."

"Are you so certain?!"

"I am. And the locker rooms... They're suspicious... very suspicious indeed. Don't you agree?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't think anyone has checked the locker rooms. Perhaps... you could check the girl's locker room first?"

"W-Wait, why there-"

It was too late, because Sonic walked forward and pressed his hand against the girl's locker room door. Without a sound, the door swung open.

In that moment, time began to freeze. I wish I could see everything on the floor. But the only thing I saw was the blood on the floor. I could see that it was trailing somewhere, so my eyes continued to follow it.

As I did, I caught sight of a shoe... and then I looked up...

...only to see Knuckles' corpse hanging crucifixion style, arms tied to the pull up bars, with blood in different parts of his body... and the word 'bllood' written behind him in blood too.

I didn't have any words as I saw Knuckles' lifeless body. I just felt a ravage tingling feeling jolt my body. I didn't know how long it took me to comprehend everything that was going on, but when I did...

I screamed violently.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **The Ties that Bring us Together**

 **DAILY LIFE**

 **D̶̰̭͉̣̜̗͉̭̊̿Aͣ̽̓̓ͯ̚Ī͚̜͈͕͍̞̬ͥͣͅL̳͉̳͎͓̥ͯ̐ͥ͐̈Y̞͙̠ͥ͂̅ͭ̾̎͑̚̕͢ ̸̸̞̼̬͍̣̲ͩ̈͗̏ͣL̸̐͛ͣ̈́̇͏͔͚Į̸͙͎̹͚̮̲̺͍́ͯ́̓ͫ̂F̨̨͉̳̭̼̿̿̍̈́̿ͅE̱̙͍͓̜̓̎̽̅̕**

 **D̠̟͂͐̀̚͟E͖̬̼͙ͥ̒̉A͆ͧ̅ͪͧ͏̠̮͚̭͈͍D̲͓̼̬̣̙̱̮̈͐͟L̴͔̤̗̘͉̘̳̩͛̈́̂̆ͥ̑͒Ỵ͔̩̲̳̋̀ͧͧ̂͋́̃ ̩̜̞͖̤͕͗̓L̛̯̟͇̞̳̉͡I̳̤̱̰͉̦͕̍ͨͬ͝F̸̼͔̹̺̗̟͓̈̃̈́̈́͞E̗̣͎̲̹̰̳ͦͭͣ̾**

 **DEADLY LIFE**


	15. Chapter 2 (Deadly Life)

**(AN: And so we enter the Deadly Life portion of this chapter, and the second one overall. Knuckles the Echidna, the Ultimate Guardian has been found dead. And even when he just became friends with Shadow, more social, and the (temporary) leader of the students still trapped within the Zone. It seems our favorite Echidna, who was rougher than the rest of 'em, is now deader than the rest of 'em...**

 **But now the question begs: Who could have done it?**

 **A bit short this time, but I think you'll like the coming investigation and especially Class Trial! Oh, and before I forget, thank you for 1000 views so far!)**

* * *

I wished I could have stopped screaming, but I knew that was useless.

Knuckles... the person who we thought of as our new leader, who vowed to make sure that we wouldn't kill over out new motive... was dead. And worst of all, he was displayed like some kind of trophy.

My screams came out like water from a geyser, it felt like it wouldn't stop and it kept going and going. Sonic, on the other hand... he had his finger on his chin, scratching it.

"Very strange... it's most unusual, don't you think?" he said. I calmed my screams down for a couple of seconds before looking at him like he's crazy.

"A-Are you foolish or what?! Knuckles is dead!" I yelled.

I didn't know how Sonic was totally calm, almost like he was watching this unfold in front of a TV screen. Instead however, he only walked towards Knuckles' body, pointing at it.

"Look, his corpse has been suspended somehow," said Sonic. "And something's been written there too, most likely his blood. Bllood? It's brutal, isn't it? No, I think this is beyond brutal, wouldn't you agree?"

"W-Well thanks for NOW noticing how horrific it is! They killed him! How can that NOT be brutal?!"

"No, that's not my point. My point is that this murder is far too bizarre for any everyday amateur to have committed it. Unlike Cream's death, this murder wasn't a crime of passion or necessity. It's almost like... whoever did this only did it for fun. Are you understanding so far?"

"What? I mean... how? Look at Knuckles! He was one of the most physically strongest guys here! Not just in appearance but also strength too! How could someone kill him for fun?"

My head was swimming, and I was still reeling from the shock of everything. Now... with this too, I didn't even know what was going on anymore. Before I could even clear my head, someone came in.

"I heard screaming, what happened?"

Shadow burst into the room. My jaw dropped. I remembered how good friends they just became... what would he say when he saw Knuckles?

My question was answered when Shadow glanced past my shoulder and looked at the body. I saw Shadow's eye widen as he suddenly roared, pushing past me and grabbing Knuckles' corpse.

"K-Knuckles? Bro... bro... this... this is just a joke right? You... you really... you really aren't..." I heard him say, almost ready to sob.

And then, I heard a noise I hadn't heard yet.

 ***Ding dong, ding dong***

I looked over to the panel by the other side of the room. It turned on as the zone crest displayed, and Egg Robo appeared on screen. What he said next, only made Shadow shake and fall to the ground.

 _"A body has been discovered!"_ Egg Robo said. _"Now then... after a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

The screen turned off.

"What... was that?" I asked.

"Ah, right. You were unconscious during Cream's announcement, so you don't know about it," Sonic said. "What you heard was the body discovery announcement. Apparently, when three or more people discover a body, an announcement plays to let everyone know. I imagine it's so that the search for the culprit can proceed fairly for everyone involved."

I nodded my head as suddenly, I jumped hearing a loud fist hit the floor.

"So... it's true... The body discovery announcement... m-my bro..." Shadow whimpered.

I frowned.

"Is... is everything... Is everything in my life destined to be taken from me...? Even... e-even... ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Shadow roared once again, grabbed the nearby trashcan and throwing it at the wall, proceeding to stomp on it.

"YOU FUCKING PIECES OF SHIT! I FINALLY HAVE SOMETHING I CAN BE HAPPY ABOUT AND YOU... **FUCKING**... TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME!" he cried, sounding both enraged beyond belief and on the verge of tears. Each stomp only caused the trash bin to be caved in. I wanted to do something but...

What could I even say to him?

"Who... who did it? Who FUCKING DID THIS?! I'LL KILL THEM! I'LL FUCKING RIP THEIR DAMN THROATS OUT! YOU DON'T TAKE MY BRO'S LIFE WITHOUT PAYING WITH YOUR OWN!" he continued to yell, moving onto other objects in the room he could destroy in his moment of grief and sadness.

It seemed like Shadow's breakdown seemed to alert everyone, as I heard a commotion of footsteps getting closer. Suddenly, a large group entered the locker room, all with looks of confusion, fear, and anger.

"N-No! KNUCKLES!" Tikal cried, burying her face in her hands as she sobbed. "To think... he was one of the very few echidnas left alive... Is my race destined to be extinct?!"

Espio punched a wall, fueled by rage.

"Damn... I couldn't keep him safe!" he snarled.

"So, it seems the game of life and death has begun again," Blaze said. "However, I do find it odd that it was Knuckles who died. I never would have imagined it."

"Yo, I get that dude was like a wannabe Sonic, always telling us what to do but... that's a sick way to get displayed like that..." Jet said in disgust. "Whoever did that is real messed up in the head."

"It's a dream! Yeah!" Storm kept telling himself. "It's a dream, it's a dream, it's a dream, it's a dream..."

Shadow, who simply faced the wall, face in his elbows, didn't turn to face us. Big walked up to him, putting his hand on Shadow's shoulder and just lowering his head.

I could see the others. Wave simply looked at the body, almost as if she was examining it for herself. Silver tried to block it out with his hand, but to no avail, and Vector simply lowered his hat, almost as if he was mourning Knuckles for a brief while before he knew what came next: the investigation.

Knowing what I remembered last time, I buzzed up first to the bllood message on the wall.

"I dun think this is some kinda dyin' message..." Vector said as he walked up towards it. "It's too strange... almost like it was calculated."

"H-Hey... wait a minute. That bllood message... doesn't that sound familiar?" Jet asked.

I was confused at what Jet said until I remembered it clearly: Wave and Vector talking about... HER.

Rosie the Rascal.

"No! It... it couldn't be Rosie the Rascal!" Silver said, looking shocked.

The murderous fiend only known whose grisly attacks were known throughout Mobius, the latest one happening before I arrived here at Green Hills. The Ultimate Serial Killer, who created a reputation of their abnormal and downright cruel murders.

Could they really be here this whole time?

"Then... this is some copycat killer trying to imitate Rosie's style?" Tikal asked. "Why... why would anyone do that?! Is murder not sinful enough? Do they have to go as far as imitate one of the most horrific serial killers on the planet?!"

"No..." Sonic said. "I think it's the work of the REAL Rosie the Rascal."

"The real... whoa, whoa now hedgehog!" Jet yelled. "You're... you're FUCKING telling me the REAL Rosie is here in this zone?!"

"Augh! Alright, who is it! Reveal yourself so I can punch it outta yeh!" Storm added.

"I don't condone your violence, Storm, but you're right! There's no way the real Rosie could be here!" Tikal stood firm, looking right at Sonic.

"But it's funny, isn't it?" Blaze said. "How the word bllood was left at the scene, I mean. I feel like laughing at their stupidity."

"I couldn't imagine a worse scenario then a stupid murderer," Espio replied, eyes closed.

Just then, another person came into the room: a person that we were shocked to find wasn't there at all when everyone first arrived. Amy stood in the doorway, looking around. All she did was breathe heavily.

"I... I... ah..." was all the pink hedgehog said. Her hyperventilation got worse as she began to scratch herself, looking straight at the crime scene. She only walked forward as I could see her shake. "Nnnnno... W-Why? Why this?"

It sounded like Amy was about to cry as she got even closer to the scene. And then...

"KKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Amy screeched like a banshee as she dropped to the ground and collapsed.

"Aagh, fer Gaia's sake!" Vector yelled. "Quick, someone help get her back up!"

Storm and Espio ran to Amy's side, getting the now fainted girl off of the ground.

"Gosh, that REALLY didn't sound good!" Silver said.

"Why the hell did she faint? Rouge died in front of us and she was okay!" Jet added.

"I'll assume she was that horrified about seeing Knuckles' body. However... I can't help but feel like there's more we don't know," Wave replied.

"So uh, is this a violation of the rules?" Silver asked. "I mean, she passed out somewhere besides her room."

"No, I think it should be okay," I replied. "It was about sleeping, not passing out."

Meanwhile, Storm and Espio were trying to get Amy awake.

"B-Boss! She ain't waking up!" the albatross said.

"Well keep trying, Storm! She's gotta wake up one day or-"

Jet was interrupted by Amy, who suddenly groaned as we saw her finally move. When she did though...

She suddenly jumped out of the two's arms, as if she was filled with energy. Her posture and even her demeanor changed too. I noticed her gaze looked less peppy and more solemn, and her tongue was... hanging out.

"What the... what is this?!" Espio asked.

"Oh... sorry about that..." Amy replied in a monotone voice. Her monotone voice was then suddenly changed to a hyperactive one. "I was... hee hee... I was SOOOOO shocked ya know? It happens, right? Am I the only one, right? Huh huh?"

We were dumbfounded. Sure, she was acting a LITTLE more like Amy but... it was weird. It was...

It was almost like the girl standing in front of us wasn't Amy.

"A-Amy? Are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh... I'm fine... I... I NEVER FELT BEEEETTERRRRRR!"

"Why the hell is she suddenly quiet one second and loud the next?!" Jet replied.

"WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Is that a dead body?!" Amy ran up to Knuckles' corpse, poking it. "Hey! Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey! Are you dead, Mr. Red and handsome? Kyehahahaha!"

"Jeez... for the love of Gaia, she must have REALLY hurt her head when she fell to the ground!" Silver replied.

"Well, the world has a front, a back, a top and bottom inning, and a sea of truth and a web of lies, Mr. Pot Leaf head!"

"P-Pot leaf head?!"

"I'm confused..." Big said. "What happened to Ms. Amy Rose?"

"Oh, I AM the Ms. Amy Rose you're looking for! Pleased to meet you! At least I can ditch that popular girl peppiness! That's a good thing, right?! I'm totally fine? Kya ha ha ha!"

"You're not fine, girl," Wave replied. "Your eyes are far too vacant, as if you're not even here with us."

"Storm, it might be for the best if we take her back to her room for the time being," Espio added, looking at the larger albatross to his side.

"Uh... sure! As long as she doesn't er... hurt me. I dunno... I kinda get that feel she'd do that."

The two held Amy, who was excited at being dropped off, and left the locker room.

"Very well," Sonic said. "So, while they take care of Amy, we'll begin the investigation here. With Knuckles dead... well, that does leave us with one short of a body guard. Big, do you mind body guarding again?"

"Oh... I don't have a problem, Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog..." Big replied.

"Lemme bodyguard..." Shadow said. "It's the most I can do... for my bro..."

"Wait a minute, Sonic!" I said. "We're kind of rushing into this investigation, aren't we? I mean-"

"If you're going to say what I think you're going to say, zip it. The mastermind isn't behind this death, just like how they weren't behind Cream's death. Surely you realize this, don't you?"

"I... argh..."

"There's no question that Knuckles was murdered by someone among us... isn't that right, Egg Robo?"

As if on cue, Egg Robo popped in the middle of the room. "Right as rain!" he said. "But don't take it as a bad thing, it's just a fact of life! Because... that's how graduation works!"

I felt sick, looking at Knuckles' body and back at Egg Robo...

Someone in this room was a murderer.

"What, are you guys scared? Man, you guys have no balls! First, you freak out over a girl getting her throat sliced, then another getting stabbed by spikes, and afterwards, watching someone get the punishment they deserved!"

I could see Sonic grit his teeth as he clenched his fists. "Stop monologuing and GIVE US what you came here, okay?! You DID bring it, right?"

"Jeez, did what I say strike a nerve? Well, I apologize, Mr. Sonic! Here it is! EggPad numbero dos! I bet you all can't wait to receive yours!"

Egg Robo held out the next EggPad. "So, I'm gonna hand it out now! Make sure to do your very tippy-top shape investigation! Otherwise you'll be starring in a live action movie adaptation of this trial, and trust me! The fans will have your blood when they see how you look in it!"

Passing it all out quickly, the egg robot vanished. Tikal hung her head and let her EggPad fall to the floor.

"Oh... no... please... Do we have to do another investigation?..." she said, almost on the verge of tears. "I mean... I mean... look! Look at Knuckles! And... suspecting one another again... Why...? I hate this! I can't take it anymore! I want to end this cycle of killing!"

"I AGREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Silver moaned, hands over his ears. "I HATE IT TOOOOOOOOO! Oh for Gaia's sake, I've had enough, quick, someone get me to the nearest plated window! I'm gonna use my ESP powers to unscrew all the bolts!"

"And for what?!" Espio replied. "For it to not work? You heard what Wave said. They're made of something not even she could open. If the Ultimate Mechanic couldn't open it, what will?"

"Tch, you all are pathetic," Sonic said. "Just accept it already. After all, blood is just a liquid. A dead body is a simple object."

"How... DARE you?!" Tikal replied with... anger in her voice. "Was TAILS a simple object to you? Was his blood 'just a liquid'?"

"You... you BITCH! How DARE you speak his name like that!"

Blaze giggled. "You are very... enthusiastic about all of this, aren't you, Sonic?"

"I'd say WAY too enthusiastic in my opinion..." Jet muttered.

"Naturally," replied Sonic, back to his smug look. "How could I not be? If we don't unmask the culprit, we all die."

"W-Well that's true!" I argued back. "Still, maybe we shouldn't jump into it real soon?"

"What, do you want to die, bee? By all means, be my guest. I've had it up to here with your whining about how it's 'too soon'. Go, right now. You're a waste of space now, and you always WILL be a waste of space."

Suddenly, Shadow grabbed Sonic's collar. He shook as I heard him growl.

"You... FUCKING SHITHEAD!" he yelled. "I've had it up to here with you and all this shit you pull... A dead body... is an OBJECT?! THAT DEAD BODY WAS MY FUCKING BRO, YOU UNSYMPATHETIC CUNT! If you think a dead body is that, then go fucking off yourself! You'd do us ALL a fucking favor!"

"ENOUGH!" Vector yelled. We all looked at him as Sonic took Shadow's hand off of his collar. "Look, I hate to admit it, but Sonic does have a point. If we dun solve the mystery and find the killer, then our lives our over. And if Sonic is right that Rosie the Rascal is somehow the one who killed Knuckles... then more lives could be at stake if they're really here in this zone."

"Mr. Vector the Crocodile!..." Big replied. "I'm sure we'll be okay but... this... we need to worry about ourselves first!"

"Hold on hold on hold on!" Egg Robo said, popping back into the room.

"W-What are you doing here? Haven't you had your fun tormenting us?!" I replied.

"Wow, how rude! No, I'm here to talk with Vector! If that's your concern, Mr. Crocodile... then you don't have to worry anymore! In any one killing game, the guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people!"

"Was... was that even a rule?"

"I just came up with it! I mean, if one person went around, killing everyone like this was some kind of battle royale nonsense, then the lovely student life of yours would be all over, right? I'll be sure to add it... right here!"

"Wait, before you even think about leaving," Espio said. "...why not change the rules so that only one person can die?"

"Well, you don't wanna miss out on the potential of a serial killer angle if this were a good mystery! Ho ho ho! Just one would murder that possibility! So, farewell for now! I'll catch up with you all at the class trial! And remembered... if you're the blackened... punishment is waiting for you if you get caught!"

Once he vanished, Blaze was the first one to speak up.

"I can't say I understand his thinking, but if we can kill up to two people... then one more person's life can still be in danger."

"Exactly. That's why we need to uncover the culprit before something else happens," Wave replied.

"And hopefully, we do that... another execution sounds... Well, it sounds rather thrilling," Sonic said.

"And YOU need to shut the fuck up!" Shadow replied.

"Well, we have no reason to stand around here. We must begin our investigation as soon as possible," Blaze said. "If we don't solve the mystery of who killed Knuckles... then we all follow him to the afterlife."

...she had a point.

I hated this... I didn't want to do this. But... if I want to survive... Everyone else, myself included.

We have to do this! We don't have any other choice.

* * *

 **INVESTIGATION**

 **BEGIN!**


	16. Chapter 2 (Investigation)

**(AN: It's time for an investigation as we continue onto the next part of Despair Hill Zone! I'm super sorry for this chapter being late, I wanted to get it out yesterday but.. well yesterday was my birthday and I was pretty much busy all day! I hope this part does make up for it because... this upcoming trial? Oh boy, it's gonna be something! But stick around with Charmy and let's play some junior detective!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo began to chuckle._

 _"Ho ho ho... and to think that Knuckles is dead... Wait, what? You already knew about it? Well, fine! I was gonna share one of my personal anecdotes about him but since the part about him being dead has been hammered into your head, I mean, what else can I do?"_

 _Turning around, he sighed. "And it was really funny too! It would have gone along the lines of... Just imagine if Knuckles did survive! Then we would sure be in... Argh, see dear reader! You've conflicted me so much that I can't even remember what joke I was even gonna say! Jeez, you suck! I hate you, reader!"_

 _Egg Robo stormed off, grumbling about 'Lousy Sonic fans...'_

* * *

…

First, I had to take a look at the EggPad. Turning it on, Knuckles was displayed alongside his official autopsy.

 _"Victim #2 is Knuckles the Echidna. Time of death is estimated to be around 2 am. The victim was found in the girl's locker room on the second floor. Cause of death is a blow to the head from a blunt object, however, there are multiple small, thin holes on his lower back. Despite this, Knuckles died instantly from the blow to the head."_

I was confused reading it. Was that really all it said? Something told me that wasn't the case, however I knew there was no point complaining about it. I had to do what I had to do, no matter what.

Just as I was about to get my own PAD so I can write down my clues, Sonic interrupted me.

"Charmy... do you have a second?" he asked.

"Huh? What do you need from me?" I replied.

"Of course. I need you for something."

"What did you need anyway? It seems unlike you to ask me."

"I'm going to let you work with me during my investigation. How joyous for you, no? You should be thankful."

Wow, what an ego.

"Uh..."

"Don't give me an uh! I need your talent, the same one that let you solve Cream's case!"

I was still surprised though. That same case was the one that ended with Tails dying... Did he really need me to help after that?

"I mean, I didn't so much solve the case on my own just-"

"Look, you have use! Now stop wasting my time and just go with me!"

I mean, fair enough but you sound so arrogant. I didn't want to say that out loud though... anything that can help me solve the case quicker worked for me.

"Now then, let's get started. First, did you see anything particular in the EggPad description?"

I nodded. "Yeah... a few things, but the biggest of them all... what were those 'small holes' it mentioned?"

Sonic walked over to Knuckles' body, pulled up his shirt, and let me see the holes in question. They were just as the EggPad described them; small and thin.

"Looking from this... it looks like the same area was repeated multiple times, right?" Sonic asked. "I think this is the work of Rosie no doubt."

"You're stilled convinced it's her?" I asked.

"Oh, you'll see why eventually. For now, explore the room and ask the others."

Confused, I did what he said and decided to first start with talking to Shadow. He was still fuming but silent.

"S-Shadow?" I asked. "Um... I apologize but... I need to ask you something."

The black hedgehog didn't respond. He still looked furious.

"Um... I know you and Knuckles were good friends... do you know where he might have been at the time of his murder?"

"...yeah, I do."

"Huh?!"

"We... we were working out together earlier that morning. I actually left before Knuckles did cause he was taking a shower. And... and I... I saw someone scuttle into the locker room."

"Wait, you did?!"

"Yeah. I didn't see who it was, I just saw the door closing. I didn't examine it though, I thought someone else came in to work out or something. Gah..." Shadow slapped himself. "That was the WORST FUCKING MISTAKE I COULD HAVE MADE!"

I frowned. Shadow was still in mourning and regretful of what he did... but maybe if I can find out the truth, I can finally let him be at peace knowing who the killer is.

With that, I wrote down my first clue: Shadow's account.

Moving on, I talked to Big. He didn't know anything unfortunately, so I moved on to one of the first things I noticed when I encountered Knuckles' body: the barbell weight. More specifically, there was a bloodstain on the upper part of the weight. Sonic walked up to me.

"If you remember the EggPad, it mentioned that Knuckles was killed with a blunt object," he said. "Look, it's a twenty-pound weight too. That would be enough to crush someone's head. What I think might have happened was... first, he was stabbed in the back repeatedly, then killed with the weight."

"Well, I imagine the thing wasn't dropped on him," I replied. "Echidnas have rather thick skulls. I think whoever used it was strong enough to slam it on his head just by lifting it."

"Wow, you're not at stupid as I thought. I was thinking the same thing. Although... that IS if the weight isn't a ploy."

"What do you mean?"

"Again, I'll explain it later. For now, keep the weight in mind,"

Nodding I wrote down my second clue: the barbell weight.

"Now, I think it's time for us to move on, Charmy."

"Already? I mean, shouldn't there be more stuff we could find?"

"New clues aren't going to magically pop up, bee. Now let's go."

"A-Alright."

I turned around at looked at Knuckles' body and left. Just as we were about to leave the locker room, I then looked at... the gatling gun on the ceiling.

"Come ON, Charmy! What are you standing there for?!" Sonic said, annoyed.

I didn't say anything, but... remembering the whole Rosie thing, she was the likely suspect but...

I kept the gatling gun at the back of my head, just in case.

"So, you noticed the gatling gun too," Sonic replied. "I think it's unlikely that it was used, but look closer at the wall."

As I did, I noticed there were a few minor blood stains on the wall. I made sure to write it down as a quick note.

"If I remember right, the way the locker rooms work is that it only works with whatever assigned sex you are, right? And if you used the wrong one, the gatling gun would go off," I said.

"Of course. What, do you have an issue with it? Tell Egg Robo that, not me," Sonic replied.

"Did you call for me?" a new voice said. It was Egg Robo, staring at us two and startling me due to coming out of nowhere.

"It seems that Charmy has a question for you. Go ahead Charmy, tell him."

"Uh... well..." I began, nervous that I was suddenly put on the spot. "It's about the card readers."

"What, do you not remember the rules? Fine, I'll remind you! You can only use the locker room to your assigned sex. If it's male, you can only use the men's locker room. Female is the same thing! If you use the wrong one... then Mr. Gatling gun turns you into a carcass! The same goes for two people entering the locker room at one time. AND, as I'm sure you remember, it's against Zone Policy that you loan your PAD to someone else!" Egg Robo said. "Did you catch all of that?"

"So, Charmy..." Sonic began. "I can see it in your eyes. Since Knuckles was found in the girls' locker room, that means only a girl could have killed him, right? For the love of Gaia, you're simple..."

"I mean, am I wrong?" I asked.

"You should REALLY pay closer attention to the rules. The answer has been in front of you the whole time. While it's true that loaning a PAD is prohibited, BORROWING someone else's is perfectly fine."

"Ho ho ho!" Egg Robo laughed. "Man, you would have never expected that kinda intellect from the Ultimate Runner! Guess all that reading you did like a shut in paid off, didn't it? You managed to sniff out the loophole!"

"Knowing you, it would be you made it on purpose, didn't you? Almost because of your little desire to make things more exciting."

"Aaahh! You're treating me like dessert instead of the full course meal, Mr. Sonic! Now then, since the dead can't actually talk, they're not people anymore! They're things! Get it? Got it? Good."

This struck a nerve with me. Cream... wasn't a thing. Sonic felt the same way too, as I could see the little jolt in his body and his eyes when the egg robot said that.

"Wait a minute though, hold on!" I said. "You're saying that's a loophole, but... in order to borrow something from someone, then that would uh... means someone would have to uh... loan it, so... u-uh..."

I realized half way into the sentence that I had no idea what I was talking about.

"Why you...! I'm so sleepy, and YET! You don't even know what you even want to say! Just listening to you makes me even more tired! So get your act together and be more like Mr. Sonic!" Egg Robo said looking at me sternly. "No more questions or I'll charge you with criminal negligence and just being an overall fool! Figure the rest out your own damn self!"

Disappearing, I felt a slight headache after that conversation. Sonic however, wasn't done yet.

"Well, I know you're a part of the slow department. Don't worry, pretty much everyone is, so I'll fill you in myself. Come on, to the main hall we go."

"The main hall?"

"That'll help you understand what's going on."

Nodding, I made sure to put my third clue: the Card Reader.

Before we made our way back to the first floor, I took notice of something in the corner of the locker room. There was a lone mop simply standing there.

"Hey Sonic, was that always there?" I asked. The hedgehog sucked his teeth and took a look at it.

"Why... no it wasn't. At least, I hadn't noticed. Why, is a mop your new girlfriend now?"

Ignoring his comments, I took a look at the mop to find... blood on it.

"W-Waugh! T-There's blood on this!"

"Hm... seems like this connects to the blood on the walls and on the floor. It seems like the killer used this to clean up their mess. But they didn't seem to do a good job hiding it, did they?"

I nodded. It was very rushed but... this had to be important! And so, I wrote down clue 4: the bloodied mop.

With that, we finally left the locker room and my mind couldn't get the gatling gun off of my mind. The small portion of blood on the walls, the mop, and the cryptic message...

Bllood...

It hurt my head, but I knew there was only one thing I could do: move on.

* * *

As Sonic and I headed to the main hall, I got a sense of déjà vu. It only felt like yesterday when we were all here in front of the massive door. It only felt like yesterday when Cream, Rouge, Tails, and now Knuckles were still alive, and Sonic was his cheerful, old self...

I frowned. "So, what are we looking for here?"

Sonic turned around, not even looking at me. I just lowered my brows, realizing he wanted me to figure it out for myself. As I first turned my head to the right, I noticed the first obvious thing: a mailbox.

"Huh? Was that always there?" I asked myself. Buzzing towards it, I opened it up and discovered... three PAD's. I was confused though... what were these and what were they doing here?

"Ah, so you finally found them," Sonic said, walking up towards me.

"Sonic? Did you know these were here?"

The hedgehog got his smug look. "I happened to find them by chance the other day you know. From the looks of it... this is a system where the PAD's of the dead students get 'delivered' to this mailbox."

"So these PAD's... they belong to Cream, Rouge, and Tails, right?"

"Go ahead, confirm it yourself."

I grabbed the first PAD and turned it on, and when I did...

I found that it was Cream's.

"You were right! This is Cream's!" I said.

"So, now you get the loophole here."

"Loophole?"

"Oh Gaia, you're slow. Don't you remember the rules about PAD's? You can't loan it to someone, but stealing it or getting it from here is perfectly fine."

O-Oh, right...

Well still, I knew this was super important, so I wrote down clue 5: The Main Hall PAD's.

As I was about to put the PAD's back, Sonic stopped me.

"Hold on..." he said. The hedgehog grabbed the last one and tried to turn it on. Strangely however, it didn't.

"It's broken? Who did it?"

"Charmy, turn on that other one."

Confused, I did what Sonic said and turned on the middle PAD. When I did though, it displayed a name.

 _"Knuckles the Echidna"_

"W-What's Knuckles' doing here?!" I questioned.

"And this one... it isn't turning on at all. I'm curious. Do you think it's... Tails'?"

"W-Well he was executed, right? I'd imagine that if you died like how he did, then your PAD would no doubt break."

Sonic turned away from me as I could see his body shake. Maybe he didn't notice... maybe he didn't want me to see but...

I swore for a brief second; I saw a tear fall from his face. I sympathized with him. Even if Tails did kill Cream... the way he died was cruel and heartless.

Just then, Egg Robo interrupted us.

"Argh, you!" he said. Sonic quickly turned to face Egg Robo, enraged.

"You... what do you want?!" he snarled.

"Ooh! Looks like I caught the little hedgehog crying! Well, that's beside the point anyway! Your little claim is what I'm here to judge you two about! That PAD is essential to student life here! It's crucial, integral, instrumental, and a super, SUPER big deal! It's just as super as the barrels of Carnival Night Zone! In other words, there's no way it would break that easy!"

"But... it did," I replied. Egg Robo only pointed his arm gun at me.

"If I said it wouldn't break, then it WOUDLN'T FREAKING BREAK! I said it on the first day! It can withstand up to ten tons of pressure, and is waterproof up to one hundred meters! No matter how violently you crush someone, unless its ten tons, it wouldn't do a thing!"

Suddenly, the robot looked sad. "Although, there is ONE weak point my amazing PAD has..."

"It does?"

"Well, I can't tellllllll youuuuu! I don't want you breaking your PAD's!"

"Then, what you're saying is..." Sonic said. "Tails must have broken it somehow? But... surely you remember the trial right? He used his PAD to show us his name. How did it break afterwards? It had to be the execution. It's already insulting enough that... THAT happened. But... THIS IS-"

"Hard to say, Mr. Sonic! I think his PAD isn't broken! Now I know you'll ask, how that'll be? Well... it'll be... WAIT FOR THE TRIAL!"

Egg Robo vanished and I sighed, knowing we didn't get any closer to an answer.

"So what just happened? Egg Robo said it's not broken but it's undeniable that it's not turning on," I asked. I could still see Sonic fuming. He then threw his hand down and exhaled.

"Well, I don't see any connection to the case, so let's leave it like this."

"Still though, shouldn't we try to figure out why Knuckles' was replaced?"

"Argh, you're right. I forgot about that. We'll have to examine Knuckles again, but for now, let's not worry about that."

I nodded, knowing we had to move on. But first, I wrote down clue 6: the broken PAD.

"Well, now with all of that aside, let's now properly begin our investigation into finding out the true culprit," Sonic said, smug look and everything.

"Yeah, we need to find out who killed Knuckles. Where do you suppose we search first?" I asked.

"To be exact, not quite."

"Hm?"

"Well, I do want to reveal Knuckles' killer, but more importantly... I want to discover the true identity of Rosie the Rascal."

"Are you still believing that Rosie the Rascal is the one who killed Knuckles?"

"Don't make me repeat myself. I have no doubt that she was the culprit of this case. There's nobody else it could be. A fiend who kills again and again using a bizarre and brutal method. They're like a ghost, attacking suddenly then slipping by before the police can catch up to them. It's almost like out of a movie, no?"

"I heard they killed dozens of people. Although... part of me still wants to think its an urban legend. I mean, could one of us really have a serial killer alter ego?"

"You're not wrong to wonder, you know."

"But words mean little..."

"Hm, I know that. Thankfully, I have something to prove it, and I'm happy to show you. Come along now. This will show you all the evidence you need that proves that Rosie the Rascal killed Knuckles! But first, why not indulge in some reasoning behind my accusation first? There's three things here: the holes in Knuckles' back, the weight, and something you might not have caught while we were there."

"Huh? What was it?"

"On Knuckles' head, did you notice anything about it?"

I tried to think back, but couldn't think of much until I remembered a mark on his head with blood on it only briefly when I had examined his body.

"Wasn't there a bump on his head that was bleeding?"

"You're right, bee. With these three, I think they were used as a forgery to cover up that Rosie had done it."

"Wait, are you saying... the way Knuckles died and all his injuries were faked in the EggPad?"

I was conflicted. Did the evidence... really exist? Before we could head out or I could question Sonic more on his theories, someone came running in.

"You two! I'm so glad I found you!"

Tikal came running in, panting heavily as she looked at the ground, hands on her legs.

"Oh, you... pacifist girl. Well, what do you need?" Sonic asked with poison in his voice.

"It's... it's urgent! I need your help!"

"We're busy, leave us alone."

"No, it's an emergency! Storm and Espio requested I find help! You must help us!"

"Tikal, calm down!" I said. "What happened?"

"Something's wrong with Amy. She's acting very strange!"

I jumped a bit hearing that. Amy was acting strange earlier, but this... Could it have gotten worse?

"Sonic, what should we do?"

"Well... I must admit, it IS a bit interesting to imagine what's happening to her," he replied.

"...even after all the times she annoys you with her whole 'my darling Sonic' thing?"

"Tch, I'm sure she has no reason to say that. We have a second to check up on her."

"Are you sure?"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

I wouldn't lie... knowing how much Amy annoyed him, I was surprised to see he was okay with it.

"Okay, thank you!" Tikal bowed. "Please, follow me!"

Tikal ran out of the main hall as we followed behind. As we did though, I couldn't help but think back to one more thing:

Of all the PADs we found in the main hall, Rouge's wasn't there.

* * *

Finally stopping in front of Amy's room, we saw Storm and Espio standing against the wall waiting for us.

"There you two are!" Storm complained. "Jeez, you keep a guy waitin', huh?"

"Pay no mind to Storm," Espio added. "We know you were up to your investigations. I'd love to hear what you have to tell me, Charmy, however that'll have to wait. This is more important."

I nodded as Tikal stood in front of Amy's door.

"So, what's the emergency?" Sonic asked.

"Okay, so after what happened, from what Storm and Espio told me, they had left Amy in her room so she could rest," the orange echidna said. "After a while, they came back to check on her to see how she was doing. But when they did... they described it as... strange."

"That girl is usually like all bubbly like she just met her favorite pop star, but now she's a paranoid mess!" Storm added.

"I worry about her... Both me and Storm tried to get her out but she kept commenting something odd. Even Tikal, who walked past us, tried to get her to talk but she just kept repeating the same things. That's when we told her to find you, Sonic," Espio said. "As we know, if there's anyone Amy likes more, it's you."

"Figures..." Sonic replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well, how about if I give it a shot? I think I can talk to her," I said.

"You will? Oh, thank you, Charmy!" Tikal said. "I just hope we'll get Amy to open up soon... The trial is soon and I... I... I don't want to think about it."

"It's fine. Lemme at it."

Knowing I had to give this a shot, I buzzed up to her door and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, the door opened slowly. From the shadows of the room, a... scared, shaking, and crying Amy peeped out from the crack of the door.

"..."

I jumped seeing her like this. Ever since yesterday... she's been paranoid about something. Is what happened earlier connected to that? I felt an aura of negativity and sorrow following from the door, as if what was happening to Amy was contagious.

"A-Amy?" I asked softly.

"C-Charmy... what... what do you want?" Amy said in a hushed tone.

"Amy... what's wrong? Tikal got me and told me about how her, Storm, and Espio tried talking to you. Is... is everything okay?"

"D-Don't."

"Huh?"

"Please... it's... it's kind but... I'm not opening this door. I'm sorry but leave me alone... I... I can't allow it..."

"Can't allow what?"

"I... I... I..."

Amy took a deep breath.

"I can't allow Rosie the Rascal to have control!"

She slammed the door in my face. All of us looked at the door, unaware of what just happened.

"So... how do we describe that?" Storm asked.

"The same as usual," Tikal replied. "She's been acting like this, remember? When we rang earlier, she said that she'd drive out the killer. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Storm and I tried to bust down the door but it felt like something was holding it shut," Espio added. "It almost felt like Amy either boarded her room up, or she's pressed against it, not wanting anyone to come in."

I was even more confused now. Why was Amy so afraid to the point she'd bar up her room? I thought that perhaps, she felt the same way as Sonic in that Rosie was the killer, but was afraid to confront her.

"Well, Sonic?" Tikal asked. "You're the only one who-"

"Sure, if it means it'll get her talking," the hedgehog replied.

"But I wasn't done-"

"And now you're wasting my time. Move, girl."

Tikal moved out of the way as Sonic rang the doorbell. Once again, Amy opened her door, still shaking, crying, and scared Amy peeped out, only this time, she looked angrier.

"W-What do you want?! Leave me alone! You're all annoying!" she outbursted. "I know you care but... I... I WANT YOU TO GO AWAY-"

She stopped herself when she saw who was talking to her.

"Ah! M-My darling Sonic!"

"It's JUST Sonic."

Amy opened the door a little wider, but still said nothing as she did. She then looked up at the hedgehog, who just had his arms crossed.

"...I... M-My darling Sonic... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry I couldn't keep our promise. But don't worry... I told myself that never again... I... I won't let Rosie the Rascal have control ever again!"

Once again, she slammed the door in his face.

"Man, not even her 'darling Sonic' could help her. Something's really gotten into her!" Storm said. "And... and she's confusing the hell outta me! I mean, what's she even talkin' about? I'm so lost!"

"There's nothing else we can do for now. Let's just return back to the investigation," Sonic replied.

"Uh... no we aren't?! We aren't going anywhere until you tell me what's going on!" I argued back. "What did she MEAN by promise?"

"Don't look at me, Charmy. I have no idea. Must be one of her usual delusions."

"Uh... are you sure?"

"If I say I don't, I don't know. Just let these three take care of her."

"O-Okay... I'll take care of her," Tikal nodded.

"Yeah, leave it to me!" Storm added. "Boss told me I can stay here, so as long as you two are up to it, I got nothing to worry about!"

"Very well. However, Charmy, I do have some things I could tell you about this case. If you're not too busy, I'd be glad to relay them to you," Espio said.

"Ah, Espio... do tell me," Sonic replied with his smug look.

"Notice how I said CHARMY," Espio looked cross as he said that. "I'm sure he'd be glad to tell you once we're finished, but I'm only speaking to him,"

"Tch, fine. See if I care."

Sonic walked off as I buzzed towards the chameleon. "What's up, Espio?"

"It's about the location of where Knuckles was killed."

"Huh?"

"I've been noticing Knuckles using the locker room a lot to work out since it's been open to us. I sometimes catch him there when I go to work out myself. I just don't know why he'd appear in the girl's locker room."

"Yeah, that part is super weird too. Do you remember the rule about how the locker rooms work?"

"Of course. Only use a PAD of your assigned sex. That would mean that someone opened the girl's locker room to drag him in there."

"Wait, drag him?"

"How else could he have gotten in when he couldn't borrow a girl's PAD? That's against the rules, isn't it?"

Espio was right about that... how could he? The only thing I could think of...

...was either the killer really WAS a girl or... someone had used Rouge's PAD, which explains why Sonic and I didn't find it in the main hall.

I knew I had to look at the PAD on Knuckles, but for now, I wrote down what Espio told me. With that, I had gotten clue 7: Espio's account.

"Well, Charmy? Are you done?" Sonic asked.

"Y-Yeah. And Espio? Thanks," I replied.

"No worries, young one. We'll find the truth to this. For now, I shall stay here," the chameleon replied.

Without waiting for me, Sonic was already speeding off as I quickly had to follow behind. I tried to talk to him as we sped down the hall, but he didn't look back or say anything. He just kept running to a certain destination.

* * *

Finally, we both reached a certain pair of doors on the second floor: the library.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"Come on, let's go," Sonic replied, annoyed.

Following him inside, I looked around, confused at what we would find here.

"So why are we here?"

"Have you been to the archive yet, Charmy?"

I shook my head.

"Well hurry up and go inside."

Buzzing towards the door I hadn't entered through yet, Sonic opened the door and walk in.

"It'll make more sense once you're inside."

Nodding, I followed behind as I looked into the archive. It was a small, circular room with bookshelves filled with all kinds of books. I didn't know where to even begin...

"Jeez though... it's dusty..." I commented, looking at all the dust on the shelves.

"I would say there's enough value to justify the dust," Sonic replied, his smug look back once again.

"Well, my question is, where do we start?"

"Oh, that'll come soon. In the meantime, why not explore?"

Tilting my head a little, I looked at the first thing I noticed: a wooden box that was empty. Judging by the smudges in the dust though... it looked like something was there originally.

"Hey Sonic, do you know what was in here?" I asked. The hedgehog came over and looked from my shoulder.

"Oh that. There was an extension cord in there. I used it quite a lot while passing the time, reading."

I frowned, not really sure what to make of this? After a few seconds, I didn't think there would be much to the box and left it as is. Next, I took note of a lamp by the box. Looking at it closer... it was the same one I saw Sonic using when we all confronted him in the library a couple of days ago.

"What?" Sonic asked, cross. "Do you have some kind of problem with the lamp? It was here before, and moved it back. It's too dark there, so I thought I'd put it to good use."

Slowly shaking my head, I took my attention off of the lamp and finally took notice of the shelf in front of me. A little conflicted, I picked one out from random.

"Ah, sharp eye, Charmy," Sonic commented.

"...why do I have a sharp eye?"

"It's a classified document on the assassination of Fredrick Acorn of the Kingdom of Acorn. According to the contents, it apparently was kept locked in a safe at the Library of Acorn. Are you sure you want to look at it? There's no telling what kind of wrath you'll evoke if you peek..."

"...on second thought, I'm good."

I put the file back, not even complaining one bit.

Finally, I looked at the middle shelf, scanning all the spines to see if I could find SOMETHING.

"Ah, this section..." Sonic said. "It's a bit dangerous."

"Dangerous how?"

"It details all the people who control this world and the higher ups of any prominent figure in politics, economics, entertainment, etc, behind the scenes. Corrupt politicians, businessmen, organizations, and lobbies. Did you know the Mobius Running Association is connected with 'Spiritual Faith Powers', a super PAC that donates a quarter to their funds to anti-gay organizations? Tch, and to think that I wanted to be apart of that."

"I'm surprised you're actually making that judgement. I thought you hated everyone?"

"Shady organizations can go burn in a pit. What, did you expect I'd let them off the hook? I wouldn't be surprised if there was a massive organization behind this game. If they were... I'd tell them these rules are too lenient."

"Wow, look at you with your morals. I thought you would have lost them."

"Oh sod off and keep looking..."

And I did just that, moving onto the next shelf behind where Sonic was standing.

"Oh, just to warn you Charmy," he said. "This shelf is filled with graphic, disturbing photos from all kinds of crime scenes. It's the kind of thing a normal person like you wouldn't even dare to look at. Be careful."

 _"And what? You're not normal so you look through a bunch of death and stuff? Makes sense,"_ I thought to myself.

"All of the files here? They're all files of investigation reports to different cold cases. They were meant for police eyes only, so it's hard to imagine them being leaked. Don't you understand though?"

"Understand what?"

"The true splendor of this library, I mean. The entire reason I read books like some kind of bookworm was because of this room. But honestly... I think doing all this reading helped me out more than it already has."

Like being grossly out of character?

Sonic began to walk across the room, arms stretched out as he grabbed a random file from the shelf. "It's home to classified government documents, police records, stuff that you or I wouldn't see. I bet only someone like Vector has had experience with this. Isn't it magnificent?"

"This... can't be for real, can it?" I asked. "I mean... if everything here IS classified for so many reasons, then why is it in this zone?"

"Ugh, that's you and everyone else's problem. Anything doesn't fit your reality? It's a lie."

"I mean, it's not THAT. But... there's just so much. How could anyone have put all this together?"

"If I had to guess... it just shows how powerful Green Hills is. Or perhaps the mastermind may have wanted to provide us with enough entertainment to keep us from getting bored."

Because murder documents and government info are 'entertainment'.

But regardless... it was no use. I couldn't keep up with all of this. It was too real.

"What's wrong, bee? You still can't accept it?"

"Well what about you? How can you believe it so easily? Things like this are usually impossible."

"What do you mean usually? Usual, normal, ordinary, simple... those things don't exist anywhere in the real world. If you don't understand what they actually represent, you don't understand the nature of anything."

Geez, you sure do love pulling your punches...

"Besides, what you consider 'usual' is based on your common sense. But your common sense doesn't apply to me. I've read so much of this information that my view on this world has changed, and along with that, my ideas on the word 'Usual' too. And I've read them all multiple times."

"Uh, I did HEAR that right? MULTIPLE times?"

"What, do you expect me to be around you all? No, I've spent my days in here and enjoyed the amount of literature. Heck, these pages have been more entertaining than any of you have been."

…I didn't want to say it to him, but at that moment, I feared Sonic more than I feared the mastermind.

"Something that always interested me, Charmy... were the cold case police investigation reports. Now, I remember sometimes staying up with Tails, watching those true crime or top five videos about killers and we'd talk about our own theories. But seeing these files... it helps put so many pieces into puzzles. However, let's talk about one of my favorite ones... the Rosie the Rascal case."

As he talked, Sonic grabbed a specific file from the shelf and handed it to me.

"This is the file itself. Every single report associated with Rosie is connected here. Because there are so many, let me summarize a few points. To begin, there are four characteristics for every Rosie case. The first one is that the victim is stabbed repeatedly multiple times on the back with a small, thin object. Judging from police and my own theories, the weapon used here is definitely a pocket knife. This doesn't kill them... but it's likely Rosie attempting to subdue her victim and bring more pleasure to herself by stabbing into specifically the back. Next, the victim is then killed in the exact same manner; a 'bump to the head' if you will. What's perplexing about this is that the file believes it could come from a hammer, however the hammer must be a specific one used by Rosie, as it's very round and causes the skin to deform to a specific shape when you're struck with it. Third, the victim is hung up crucifixion style with a rope. As I'm sure you remember, Knuckles was hung up the same manner. And finally... the word 'bllood' is found at EVERY scene, and is written in the victim's own blood."

I simply listened, but my mouth only opened wider and wider.

"Save your surprise, Charmy. The best part is yet to come. Now it's funny I did bring up the rope. It's mentioned in the file that only the police and other higher-ups knew about it being a rope. By all accounts, nobody in the media found out."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"In other words, no one on the news or online knew that aspect of each crime. Only key officials and the killer knew about how the victim was mounted. Now, recall how Knuckles looked."

"Y-You're right... How could the killer have known about suspending the victim? Unless... unless the killer were-"

"I'm glad you finally get it now. THAT is the evidence that Rosie the Rascal has hidden themselves amongst the rest of us."

I don't know what was making me sicker: the fact Knuckles was dead, we had a class trial coming up soon, or the fact that Rosie the Rascal, a literal serial killer, was walking among us.

"Things are getting interesting, aren't they? I never imagined a killer like them would be a part of our little killing game. Now, don't you think it would be fun and healthy to take a look at the file in your hands? It won't hurt you. You might even get a clue or two. In fact... if you get on your knees and beg, I might even point you at the right direction."

I gulped, opened up the file, and...

Almost dropped it in horror.

What I saw in those images... I couldn't even describe it. I know a lot of people censor out crime scenes online, but this... seeing it up-close and with such detail...

I could only imagine what type of pain these people went through. I saw so many smiling faces next to their dead corpse, all hung up in the same manner that Knuckles was. The worst part is that the names of Rosie's victims ran on for so many pages.

Dexter the Shark, 30...

Gardon the Koala, 17...

Gunther the Ferret, 26..

Justin the Beaver, Demo the Duck, Bill the Platypus, Pex the Lion, and the list kept going on. One thing was perfectly clear as I kept reading however.

All the ways the victim died were in the exact four steps Sonic had mentioned: the stab wounds from a pocket knife on the back, killed with a hammer, hung up with rope, and the word 'bllood' written behind their dead body.

"Take a look at the next page. You'll find a new tidbit," Sonic said.

"The next page?"

I turned to the next page and read the header.

 _"PROFILING RESULTS_

 _All of the crimes took place on either weekdays at night or holidays, either day or night. The most common time for the killings to take place were on holidays in the afternoon. Based on this fact, it is likely that Rosie the Rascal is a student at a local zone, however no proof of this has yet to be found. Evidence suggests that the suspect lingered at the scene, but when they left, they were in a panic. Because an eyewitness had never come forward, it's unlikely there was any external reason for this. This behavior suggests that the suspect may suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder."_

"Have you heard of Dissociative Identity Disorder, Charmy?" Sonic asked.

"W-Well no..."

"It's a type of mental disorder where someone has a split personality to who they are. They have a different name, different way of speaking so on."

"I... I think I've seen horror movies about that before."

"Oh, that. Yes, it's true the media loves to depict mentally ill people like they're serial killers. In truth, it's very rare to find someone with DID who's actually violent. But it seems like our Rosie here is a special case...

"So, someone's split personality is Rosie is what you're trying to imply here, right?"

"Correct."

My eyes widened. I wasn't sure what to make of this, but... this file... I KNEW it had to be a clue. And so, I wrote it down for clue 8: the Rosie the Rascal Case File.

"So, that should be it," Sonic added.

"W-Wait! Shouldn't we try to theorize who Rosie might be perhaps?"

"I'm not going to spoon feed you every little bit of information I know, bee. You have to make your own theories after all. Now, we finished our business here. Let's go."

Sonic walked off, leaving me with the file.

"W-Wait up, Sonic!"

* * *

As I finally caught up to the hedgehog outside of the library, he turned around and looked at me.

"Well, this is where we part ways. I have some things to take are of before the class trial starts."

"All of a sudden?" I asked.

"I don't have time for you. Besides, enough of your little fantasies. Did you REALLY think we'd work together this whole time? Go away and do something useful. Goodbye."

Sonic walked off, leaving me behind. Now I felt and understood Jet and Shadow's frustration towards him. He really WAS a cruel person.

But at the same time, I uncovered some very important clues because of him. Rosie the Rascal... they're the one who killed Knuckles. That murderous fiend... is one of us too!

But who was it? I had to find it out no matter what it took, and to do that, there was somewhere I needed to go.

I buzzed my way back to the crime scene, when I saw Big in the lobby of the locker room.

"Oh, Big, what's up?" I asked.

"It's you, Mr. Charmy Bee... how are you?"

"I-I'm good, yeah. What's going on?"

"Oh, I was just getting some water for Mr. Shadow the Hedgehog... he said he was thirsty... But... when I was getting the water, I ran into Ms. Blaze the Cat... She said she wanted to meet you in the warehouse on the first floor..."

"Blaze? Did she say why?"

"I don't know... she just went and left without telling me..."

"O-Oh... Alright, well I'll do that. W-Wait!"

"Huh?"

"Before you go... I need to tell you something..."

"W-What's wrong?"

"I... Don't tell Mr. Shadow the Hedgehog but I was doing some investigating on my own... And I think I found some evidence."

"E-Evidence?! Big, what was it?"

"Uh... I... I'm not too sure about it though... Can I wait until the trial?..."

I was confused at what Big was hiding, but I'm sure it was important.

...hopefully.

Before I left to go meet Blaze, I decided I had to do something first. I buzzed up to the gatling gun and stared right at the muzzle.

"Gosh, I hope I don't get shot in the face doing this..."

I took a sniff of the muzzle and...

...it smelled like gunpowder, as if it had just been used. Interesting...

Sonic said that Rosie mainly starts their killings by stabbing their victim in the back with a small blade. But with this smelling like it had been used, can I say for certain that Rosie used the gatling gun? After all, it had to have been either her or Knuckles who activated the gun IF that really is what the holes on Knuckles' back come from... I made sure to write it down as a quick note before buzzing out of the room.

* * *

When I arrived at the warehouse, I saw Blaze looking up at the shelves.

"Blaze, I got your message from Big. What happened?" I asked.

"You know, Charmy... this warehouse is amazing. It had absolutely everything one might need to live a full life. Food, clothes, towels, it's an endless supply to choose from."

"F-Fair point, but that's not what I'm here for. I heard you had some evidence?"

"I knew it. I was hoping to lead you astray from the issue but I see it was pointless. Very well, I will tell you and ONLY you. The first is while you all were focused on Amy, I had a quick peek at Knuckles' PAD that was in his pocket. Sure enough... the one on his body is Rouge's."

"I-It is?!"

At least my suspicions were confirmed now... But now this brought a new question: how did Knuckles get Rouge's PAD?

"...the next happened last night. I was coming out of the bathroom doing my nightly cool downs for my fire abilities when I began hearing loud yelling coming from the locker room. I came out of there and spotted Shadow huffing down the hall. I said hello and he ended up ignoring me. I was annoyed naturally, but I took a look at where he came from and just left. I didn't think much of anything, so I left too, even though he ignored the nighttime rule. Well, you get what you deserve, I suppose."

This put new things into perspective. However...

"You know, Shadow mentioned that he turned around and saw someone just entered through the doors in his alibi," I replied.

"Oh, did he? I didn't see anyone like that. At least, once he blew me off, I left. So, perhaps there really WAS someone that entered and I never noticed."

That second part was a little strange... I had to ask Shadow about that more once I go back to examine Knuckles' body. But with this, I could add two new clues: Rouge's PAD and Blaze's account.

* * *

With that, I left the warehouse and returned back to the girls locker room. I saw Vector examining each part of Knuckles' body from head to toe.

"O-Oh, I haven't seen you at all this investigation, Vector!" I said. "Have you made any progress?"

"Damn straight. However... I got somethin' to attend to," the crocodile replied.

"What is it?"

"Nothin' ya need to worry about, focus on the investigation."

Still being cryptic as usual...

"W-Well... tell me this! The wounds on Knuckles' back... are they from a pocket knife?"

"Huh?"

"I was with Sonic this investigation and he's certain that our killer was Rosie the Rascal. Apparently, they start their kills by stabbing someone repeatedly in the back with a pocket knife."

"Huh... I do know 'bout some of the details since I did work a few Rosie cases that went unsolved. But..." Vector walked towards Knuckles' body, pulling up his shirt. "That dun look like stab wounds to me."

"C-Can you be certain?"

"...tell ya what. Get Espio, he should know."

"R-Really? You think he can figure it out?"

"He's the Ultimate Ninja. Most likely deals with knives and their size and diameter."

Nodding, I buzzed out of the room...

...and returned a couple of minutes later with Espio following behind me. He took a look at the wounds and shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't think this could be a knife. See? Even something as small as a pocket knife couldn't make holes this small. Also, notice how the wounds are circular. If they were from a knife, it had to be a straight line."

"So... that proves it," I said. "Knuckles was shot with the gatling gun."

"Yeh thought of that too?" Vector replied. "I realized that when I saw the wounds. Seeing it confirmed now... well, now this trial is takin' a different turn, ain't it?"

"Y-Yeah. By the way, Espio... how's everyone you were with?"

"Tikal retreated to the dining hall, where I presume she's at right now. Storm decided to join Jet and Wave in their investigation, and finally, Amy is still locked up in her room."

"I-I see. I'm glad they're doing okay."

"Very well, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Actually, Espio... I could use a little bit of yer help. Mind joinin' me?"

"I have no issues with this. Shadow and Big are still protecting the body."

"Well. In that case, we're headin' out now. And Charmy? I know ya can do this."

With that, the two reptiles left, and I was left alone. While this wasn't a clue... I knew I should probably write this down for later. While I was here though...

"Shadow?" I asked. "I had asked Blaze earlier about something and she revealed that she was also on the same floor you were on the night that Knuckles died and that you passed by her."

Shadow looked a little surprised, but I guess he didn't expect me to talk to him. "Oh right... Yeah, I did pass by her. I did blow her off cause I was so damn pissed at Knuckles that I didn't think about talking to her to cool down."

"She mentioned that she didn't see that mystery person you saw. Did she leave before you?"

"No, I saw that person a few seconds after I left the gym, and then Blaze came to talk to me. Must have been dumb luck she didn't see it..."

"I-I see..."

At least this now explained why Blaze didn't see that person and why Shadow did. With that out of the way... I looked at Knuckles' body, knowing that I had to examine it thoroughly.

...even if I didn't want to.

The first thing I noticed was that Knuckles' hands and wrists were bound with... some kind of rope. As I examined it closer, I moved my eyes down to find a plug.

"Why does this rope have... no... no, this isn't a rope at all!"

And that wasn't the only thing that concerned me... with the likelihood of the gatling gun being used amongst other factors after looking at the Rosie the Rascal files. What did this mean?

With that, I wrote down clue 11: the status of the body.

If there was something I noticed heavily, it was the true nature of the 'rope' that was used to suspend Knuckles. With that, I left the scene with no more left to explore here, and my new destination was the library.

* * *

Buzzing quickly, not knowing how much time there was left, I entered the library and noticed the lamp that Sonic was using to read his book a few days ago. When I went to turn it on however... it didn't turn on. I looked at the plug to find that it wasn't even plugged in because the cord was too short to reach an outlet. But still... it WAS turning on and right here.

That's when I remembered Sonic using an extension cord, and I... thought back to the 'rope' that was holding Knuckles in place. Come to think of it... Sonic has been quick in trying to blame Rosie for the murder, and has even talked about killing someone like it's some kind of track he can run on. What was he hiding?

And so, I had gotten my 12th clue: the Library Desk Lamp.

Next, I headed to repository, where I saw the lamp I noticed last time with Sonic. While I was here however... I wanted to take another look at Rosie the Rascal's case file. However, when I did, I noticed that it was gone. I thought I had the wrong shelf, but I remembered which shelf Sonic had taken it out. I was panicking, and for five minutes, I spent looking for the dumb file only to not find it. Did someone take it out while I was gone?

"Of course..." I said to myself. "I can't think of anyone but Sonic!"

Before I could think about anything else...

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

I gulped... Egg Robo popped up on the monitor as usual.

"Erm... okay I'll just come out and say it. I'm getting tired of waiting, shall we just begin now? Okay? Okay! It's the moment you've all been waiting for! And no, it's not Sonic Mania 2! It's the Class Trial! You remember where to meet, right? Red door, first floor! Ho ho ho! See you soooooon!"

* * *

With that message, I stood in front of the red door. I didn't expect to be here again, nor did I expect to suffer through ANOTHER class trial. I was flooded with anxiety, since I hadn't had enough time to do all the investigating I needed. I hoped I had enough evidence to come to the right conclusion. However... I had to do it... I had to go through the door!

And so, with my hitched breath, I opened the door to find everyone waiting in the lobby. Egg Robo suddenly popped up in between all of us, looking a little ticked off.

"Ahem... now I'd love to begin our class trial, however...! Someone's not heeeeeere!" he said.

"Yeah, Amy's not here," Shadow replied.

"And Amy is?"

"The annoying shopper girl who won't stop thinking I'm her boyfriend!" Sonic added.

"I'm kidding! How could I forget Aunt Pennybags? She's a crucial part of this class trial this time!" Egg Robo replied. "Okie-dokie, I'm gonna go drag her out of her room whether she likes it or not. Just one moment please!"

True to his word, a couple of minutes later, Egg Robo was dragging a screaming and crying Amy by her boot.

"NRGH! PLEASE!" she begged. "I DON'T WANNA DO THIS! You're... you're HORRIBLE!"

The pink hedgehog kicked her legs, trying to get out of Egg Robo's grasp.

"Stop fighting, girl! It's just like getting a shot! It won't hurt..."

"Yes it will!"

Ignoring her, Egg Robo continued. "Okay, now everyone is here! So, let's dooooo it! I'll see you guys at the trial!"

Vanishing, Shadow huffed. "Knuckles... my bro... whoever did this... We're gonna expose the FUCK outta them! They're gonna be fucking executed, and I swear... I swear I'll enjoy it... I SWEAR I'll avenge your death!"

He stomped into the elevator, his rage and passion for wanting to uncover the truth to his friend's murder beyond comprehension.

"So, you heard the whiner. We should get going. We need to discover who killed Knuckles," Sonic replied, getting onto the elevator next.

…

Knuckles...

Knuckles the Echidna...

While it was true he avoided us a lot in the beginning, it was safe to say we all got to know him better since the last trial. And... and he was supposed to lead us! He was supposed to guard the Master Emerald! He was... finally having his first few friends after years of isolation. How could he have died like this? Someone made the choice to kill him... and that murderer... is one of us. Someone standing right here...

I could hear Jet say 'Fucking Amy, what's up with her?' as he entered the elevator.

"I will uncover the villain who performed such a heinous act. This... I'm sure even if Knuckles was very strong, this is what he would have wanted," Espio said as he walked next to me.

"E-Espio..." I said. "Are you worried? Amy's just lost her senses..." I watched her ruffle her hair violently, looking like she was ready to explode.

"I am a little concerned, yes. However... I have faith in you, Charmy. If you could solve our last trial, you can do it this time."

With one last deep breath, I buzzed toward the elevator as I could feel my hands shake. I could hear my heartbeat perfectly as everyone got on. Once they did, the elevator began to descend. I couldn't stop speculating nor overthinking as we descended. I took notice of the smaller group of people this time. Four down... and only thirteen left...

My nervousness only continued until we finally reached the bottom. The doors opened and the courtroom was revealed. I expected it to be the same as the one from the first trial but... I noticed that the walls were now wooden and colored mahogany. The candles from before were now lamps, and the curtains were now a darker shade of red. I also took notice that there seemed to be fewer curtains than there were before. After that was the checker pattern floor, which was now black and brown instead of the original black and white color.

But the main thing I noticed was the stands. While they were back from the last courtroom, two new black and white portraits with an X over that person's face were added alongside Cream and Rouge's: Tails and Knuckles'. I could watch Sonic stare at Tails' portrait, almost looking like he was about to cry.

"Soooo, what do you guys think? I redecorated! Isn't it so fresh? Isn't it so EXCITING?!" Egg Robo asked.

"Don't waste our time with stupid questions," Sonic replied, wiping his nose. "Let's get this over with."

"Good good, Mr. Sonic! I'm happy to see you're excited to see what'll happen! Now, everyone find your assigned seats and let's get this started!"

As we scrambled to find our seats, I knew that the curtains of despair opened once again. This would no doubt be another case of judgement, deception, betrayal, riddles, defenses, faith...

And a case that would lead to another deadly class trial!

Egg Robo grinned once we all got in our assigned stands, took his mallet, and brought the four sided monitor down from the ceiling, slamming his gavel down...

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	17. Chapter 2 (Class Trial (Part 1))

**(AN: Welcome back to Despair Hill Zone! Man, I'm so sorry for the late update. As you know, these Class Trial parts can be so long, so don't worry, I didn't abandon the story!**

 **So as you know, the second trial has started... and I have something for you all too! I haven't heard from you all in a while, and I'm really wanting to know what you guys are thinking so far. Theories? Critique? Anything works!**

 **As we head into this next trial, I think you'll need it all...**

 **Oh, and thank you for almost 1.5k views! It does mean a lot!)**

* * *

 _The bizarre class trial begins again... Why was Knuckles murdered? Is the killer hiding within the group? Is there any help to be found in this series of murders? Time moves forward, and the search for the killer only grows..._

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL**

 **ALL RISE!**

* * *

Once again, Egg Robo began with his diatribe from last time, clearing his throat while getting comfortable in his chair.

"Ahem, let's begin with a basic introduction of the class trial, so your votes will determine the results! The purpose of the class trial is to figure out "Who did it?". If you can find it out, only the blackened who committed murder will receive their punishment. But... if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone else besides the blackened, and the one who deceived everyone else will graduate!"

Egg Robo turned his head and put his finger on his lip. "Okay then... so first off... let's talk about the murder weapon!

He was right though. We needed to make clear what was used to deliver the final blow, as I'm sure not everyone knew.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

That weird voice... It was back in my head. I knew I couldn't focus on it, as the trial was more important.

"It seems that Knuckles' fatal injury was a blow to the head," Espio began.

"The EggPad mentioned that a blunt instrument was used to kill, but wasn't specific from there," Wave replied, messing with her glasses.

"So uh... what was the murder weapon?" Storm asked.

"I bet it was an iron pipe!" Silver said confidently. I instantly knew which statement I had to refute. Thank you Silver for making it easy, I guess...

"Oh... well that makes sense! Iron pipes are pretty good weapons!"

 _"Why are you falling for that?"_ I said, looking at Storm with a confused look.

"Poor Knuckles..." Tikal bemoaned.

Still though... the weapon WAS at the scene so how did they not catch it? Now was my chance!

"No, that's wrong!"

Everyone turned to face me as Jet said, "Oh boy, he's saying it again! If I had a drink, I'd make this into a drinking game for however many times he's gonna say it this trial!"

"No no, you guys. Can't we all agree that the object that dealt the fatal blow was the barbell weight found at the scene of the crime?" I said. "It was covered in blood too, and there was nothing else at the scene that could have caused that injury."

"Not to mention..." Vector added. "The wound on the victim's head is consistent with the shape of the barbell weight. As far as I'm concerned, there's no doubt or mistake on this one."

"C-Could you actually tell that just by looking at the head wound?" Tikal asked.

"I can actually."

"Now, if you don't mind..." Sonic spoke up. "I will proceed from here. Let's move onto a discussion of the culprit. Although... I believe the criminal who is behind such an act is already quite clear."

"W-What?! This is just like Tails' trial! We're ALREADY talking about who did it without the answer being right in front of us?!"

"First, don't speak out of line, you stupid cretin. Tails' name doesn't need to be in your filthy mouth. Second, yes. Yes we are, because Knuckles' killer is none other than the fiendish serial killer, Rosie the Rascal!"

Sonic was so certain about Rosie being the killer like I thought but...

Was that true? Did they really kill Knuckles?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"The culprit is Rosie the Rascal, I'm sure of it. If you read the EggPad, it mentions that there were 'multiple bullet wound shaped holes' on his back. Now, Rosie usually first begins their attacks by stabbing their victims multiple times with something small, in this case, a pocket knife. Case closed as far as I'm concerned." Sonic said.

"Hold on though!" Tikal argued back. "That's impossible?"

"Really? And how is that impossible?"

"Think about it! No one knows who they are, and the likelihood that one of us is a serial killer is far too low! That means there's no proof of that!"

"Uh... guys?" Big asked. "I don't mean to bring this up now but... I still don't know who Rosie the Rascal is..."

I understood Tikal's argument. It DOES seem odd that out of so many people in this world, the likelihood of one of us being Rosie is very slim but... the thing that Sonic showed me in the archive proved otherwise. One look at that, and anyone would be convinced!

"Tikal, are you certain there's no proof?" I asked.

"I-I... well, it does make sense..."

"Because no, that's wrong!"

"Huh?"

"I might know one reason Rosie could be involved. I found a file while looking around in the archive in the library. It was a confidential file the police put together about the Rosie the Rascal case."

"What?! That's weird as shit!" Shadow replied. "What the hell is something like that doing in the library?"

"Oh, and I should mention... it was Sonic who showed me it."

"OHHHHH, that makes more sense now! Of COURSE the faker with the murder fetish would be all over that!"

"Shut up you," Sonic replied. "The why of it is probably more trouble than it's worth, so let's forget about that for now."

"Forget about it?!-"

"What did I JUST say? Shut UP! Now, more importantly, that file outlines all the specifics of every Rosie the Rascal case in exceeding detail. According to the file, there are four characteristics to every Rosie the Rascal case."

"The first is that the victim is stabbed in the back with a small but sharp object multiple times, likely to be a pocket knife," I began. "The second is that the killer finishes their victims in the same way, a 'bump to the head' if you will. Supposedly, the police believe it's a hammer, but a very specific one, as the wounds on the head don't look like any kind of hammer on the market. Third, is that the victim is strung up, crucifix style with a rope. And finally, a message is written in the blood of the victim; 'bllood'."

"Exactly what he said. Now, pay attention to the third characteristic. It was NEVER made public and only known by police."

"What wasn't made public?" Shadow asked.

"Hm... Charmy? Why don't you tell them?"

Jeez, put on spot? How cruel.

Still, the other characteristic of every Rosie the Rascal case, which the world at large doesn't know... if I'm not mistaken, it had to do with the positioning of the body!

"It was the part I mentioned about the victim being strung up, crucifix style," I replied. "Other than the killer, only higher ups of the police know about it."

"However... Knuckles was hung up the same way, wasn't he?" Sonic added. "So, how could the culprit know about this when only the higher ups of the police were aware of this? There's only one logical answer I can think of. And it's that the culprit of this case is the real Rosie the Rascal!"

"N-No fuckin' way!" Shadow replied. "S-So it ain't just a theory? It's... it's real?!"

"And there's evidence too!" Jet added, panicked. "Quick, someone hide me! I'm not gonna turn into shredded chicken!"

"You're not even a chicken you fool..." Blaze replied, unamused. "But regardless... Sonic, you're saying that Rosie the Rascal is one of us?"

"Yes, there is someone. And in fact..." Sonic pointed right at someone, someone who none of us were expecting. "...that 'someone' is Amy Rose."

"W-W-Wha..." I heard Amy whimper out as her body began to shake.

"That's right. Rosie the Rascal's true identity... is Amy Rose!"

My eyes widened. I knew Amy was acting weird but... I assumed she was panicked. Was... was he REALLY saying this? Was he REALLY saying that Rosie is... Amy?

It seemed like everyone else was just as unconvinced as I was.

"M-MR. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" Big replied, visibly angry for the first time. "Y-You're... you're lying!"

"Dude, what the fuck?!" Jet added. "I know you hate her but... c'mon! Look at her! She probably spends far too much time at a mall to even kill!"

"Indeed. The likelihood of it being her is so slim, I'm facepalming without actually having to do it," Wave said. "I'm gonna need more proof, hedgehog."

"I-I said I was gonna beat up Rosie but... I ain't gonna hit a girl!" Storm replied. "IF she even is Rosie!"

As the others riled up in discussion, I saw Amy trying to cover her face with both eyes as she grit her teeth. "Wh-Wh-What?!" she said in disbelief.

"Now just hold on!" Tikal said. "Amy has shown quite a lot of disdain to all the murders that have happened here! How could she be a serial killer while also disavowing murder!"

"It seems like you all don't believe me," Sonic replied. "Is Amy Rose Rosie the Rascal? The answer is yes and no."

"Man, another riddle with you?" Silver said. "You make everything so confusing!"

"And you're an idiot."

Meanwhile, I simply took note of all the conversations going on. It was a riddle for sure but... I feel like I understand it. What it meant for Rosie to be Amy but also NOT Amy?

It was then I remembered what Sonic told me in the achieve. What was that condition? DED? DAD?...

"Wait no! Now I remember!" I blurted out loud! "It was DID!"

"DID?" Tikal asked.

"A mental condition where someone has two or more personality states. For Amy, she just happens to be one of those very unlucky few to have a split personality that has a desire to kill," Sonic replied.

"Well... still..." Big said. "It does seem very out there... I mean, to say that about Ms. Amy Rose?..."

"Perfectly acceptable, Big. Amy's strange behavior after seeing the body is proof enough that she has a split personality."

"The strange behavior..." I said. "Wasn't it how she screeched and then fainted?"

"And then when she woke up, she acted VERY differently. Remember?"

"So many things were wrong with her. The look in her eyes, and how her tone and demeanor changed from melancholy to a child who just ate nothing but sugar all day," Wave replied.

"D-Don't go saying stuff like that!" Amy said, trying to defend herself while also sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

"Not to mention... despite the fact she just screeched loudly and fainted, once she woke up, she was utterly calm," Sonic replied. "In other words, one personality exists where she can't handle death. And, when she sees one of the murder's her other half commits, she becomes sickened and then the other her comes out, who can handle murder naturally."

"N-Nghhh!"

"So... you mean to tell me that when Amy trapped herself in her room, it was because she was scared of Rosie the Rascal?" Tikal asked. "Don't you remember? How she wouldn't let Rosie have control?"

Sonic nodded. "Of course. The reason she locked herself in her room wasn't to let other people from getting in, but it was to keep her other personality from getting out. Amy was afraid. She was afraid of the murderous fiend inside of her, worried that she'd kill one of her new friends."

"H-H-How?..." Amy said, sounding even more desperate and just inches from bursting into sobs.

"Hold on, Sonic! How can you know all of this?" Tikal asked. "As we were discussing earlier, it seems VERY impractical for Amy to be Rosie! Yes, it's true that certain things that we discussed could point to her... but you're making it out like what happened is the definite, 100% proof!"

"No, I believe you misunderstood her, pacifist girl," Sonic said with his smug look. "She isn't saying 'How can you know all of this?'. No, she's saying 'How could you tell them?'

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let me explain it to you all. Last night, just before Egg Robo gave his little 'motive' speech, a certain little hedgehog by the name of Amy Rose came up to me. We even had a strange conversation too, going on about an interesting story about how a murderous fiend lived inside her, and she was worried of showing it in front of her friends out of fear that they'd ostracize her. And it was THAT what caused her to act like how she is not, isn't that right, Amy?"

"U-Urg! G-G-Gahh!" Amy's breath hitched as her eyes became puffy.

"A-Amy! This... this is a lie, right?" Tikal asked. "Please... tell me he's lying! I want to trust you!"

And then... the waterworks came.

"Y-You! You said you w-wouldn't tell anyone!" Amy blubbered, holding her head as tears fell from her eyes.

"What?"

"You! My... my darling Sonic! You promised! Why...? Why would you l-lie?!"

"You have ONLY yourself to blame, girl!" Sonic replied angrily. "You came to me revealing the truth. I DIDN'T ask you to. I told you, didn't I? You continued to live in your deluded fantasy that I must secretly love you. I hope this was the wakeup call you needed, because now, EVERYONE here knows your secret because you wanted to trust me."

Amy continued to sob as she pulled on her hair and her necklace.

"D-Dude! I know this is gonna sound weird coming from me..." Jet said. "But... maybe lay off from her? You're probably gonna send her into a coma!"

Sonic simply brushed Jet aside with a shift woosh of his hand "Besides, you broke your promise first, Amy. You promised that as long as you were here, you wouldn't let Rosie the Rascal kill a soul. But in spite of that promise..."

"B-But!" Amy argued back. "You m-made a promise! You promised t-that we'd finally go on a date once we escaped! A-And and and... and that we could even have one in the dining hall! That's why I promised! I-I... I wanted you to see the good in things... and I thought if you felt love... you can forgive yourself!"

"How pathetic! How many times do I have to tell you? I NEVER said that. I would rather bury myself alive then even IMAGINE the thought of being romantically interested in YOU. You couldn't keep your promise. You just couldn't resist the thrill you got from killing, couldn't you?"

"I-I... I TRIED! I SWEAR! I tr-tried to control it! But...!"

"It was useless. Just like how you always will be, Amy Rose."

"Nggh... I... Sonic... I.. I HATE... I HATE YOUUUU!"

"Jeez... if she says she hates him... she must mean it!" Storm said. I couldn't believe everything going on either. My only question now was... where was Sonic going with this?

"You hate me? Fine, fair enough," the blue hedgehog replied. "I couldn't care less. At least we finally see eye to eye. Well, that's enough talking for now. The opening act is nearly finished, so now it's time we hear from the person in question."

Amy's eyes widened in horror as she took a few steps back as she pulled on her hair even tigher. "The... the person?... N-No... NO! YOU... YOU DON'T MEAN!"

"I do! Reveal yourself, Rosie the Rascal!" Sonic pointed at Amy. She continued to croak out a few incomprehensible noises, until...

 **"AAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"**

Once again, just like when she saw Knuckles' body, Amy screeched like a banshee and collapsed with a loud thud. My breathing was hitched... I didn't know what was going on, and it seemed like everyone else didn't know either.

However, Amy suddenly got back up, hands on the stand... and when she did...

I audibly gasped.

Amy's face changed... her eyes were now multicolored; her tongue was now long and protruding from her mouth... but scariest of them all was her expression. It was one of pure insanity and zaniness, the perfect picture to describe the word: 'deranged'.

"WWWWWWWEEELLLLLLLLL, hellllllllllllllllllllllo there!~" the 'other' Amy said ecstatically. "Was it me you were hoping to see? Huh huh? Aren't you all so happy to see me make my first appearance?!"

Everyone gasped as I heard Jet, Big, Tikal, and even Espio loudly panic. I could hear Vector mutter, 'What the fuck?' under his breath, and Wave say, 'How terrifying...' under hers. I looked over at Big, who was right next to this new 'Amy'. I wanted to tell him to move over if it meant saving his life.

Even I had to agree... seeing her deranged expression, just... every demeanor about her scared me.

"So, I guess you all figured it out, huh? Well, whatever? What are you gonna do? It always happens in these dumb murder mysteries anyway! I guess it's time for my PROPER introduction! The name's Rosie the damn Rascal, Ultimate Boy Killer if I got my own Ultimate title! It's not even fair I have to share the same Ultimate title with some overly feminine girl who likes to shop till she drops like some rich mom at tax return season!"

"W-W-What the fuck is this?!" Shadow replied, freaked out.

"Hey uh... Wave?" Jet croaked. "You remember that one thing you were planning? That neon handcuff that shocks anyone who resists it? TELL ME YOU STILL HAVE THE BLUEPRINTS; I THINK WE NEED IT!"

"I... I don't actually..." the swallow replied, sounding just a little afraid at what was going on.

"Amy... what happened to you?" Storm asked.

"Argh! Not AMY! Didn't you JUST hear what I was complaining about? And besides, Amy is a LOSER'S name!" Rosie replied. "And 'what happened' is a case of split personality. In this case... the personality you're seeing the very wonderful Rosie the Rascal, killing all the cute boys she sees since the day she was porn!"

"Don't you mean the day you were born?" Shadow replied.

"I know what I said, big, dark, and handsome! And besides, so WHAT if wittle miss Amy's other personality is a serial killer! You should turn a blind eye to one's faults! It's like you guys LOVE to be... what do they call it? Ableist? Yeah, that! KYEEHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!"

As Rosie laughed maniacally... I... I was just lost. I didn't know what was going on anymore. It's bad enough we're stuck here, multiple people have died, we're cut off from the world, and now we just found out that one of our classmates is an infamous serial killer?

"She's so... intense..." Silver commented. If anything, that was the most I could say myself.

"Like they say, sound in murderous mind, sound in murderous body!"

"Goodness..." Espio said. "This is so bizarre... It's almost like that one book... What was it? Jekyll and Hyde? They're the same person but... they wear two masks..."

"Jeez, comparing me to a book character, are you? If Miss Prissy-Pants Amy heard you, she probably wouldn't know a thing since her little dumb self was too rich for school! Besides, the world is composed of a front and a back, you know! Just like how every inning has a top and bottom, or how in the depths of every truth lives a little lie! And behind every bright and shiny soul lives another that's just as bright and shiny! Only that the other soul's favorite color happens to be red, not girly girl-girl pink! KYEHAHAHAAAA!"

As to get everyone out of their trance, an unlikely person spoke up.

"M-Ms... Ms. Rosie the Rascal?" Big asked. "M-M-May I ask you a question?"

"Aw, a big fluffy kitty! What's up?" Rosie asked, smiling with her tongue still out.

Well at least she's not ALWAYS thinking about murder...

"W-Well... Some of us believe that you're the reason we're here right now... What do you think about that?..."

"Well I'll tell you Mr. Kitty! I'm the mastermind of all masterminds!... JUST KIDDINGGGGGGG!"

"Wait... so it's not true?" I asked.

"JEEEZ, of COURSE it's not true!" Egg Robo responded. "How DARE you try to link me to THAT lunatic! And another thing! The police, government and society outside of this ring dimension are totally powerless! I mean, they just let this idiotic, bloodthirsty girl all over town and didn't even bother to check their local mall for the suspect!"

"Sure, I'm a bloodthirsty girl, but life is pain! And to live is to hurt other people!" Rosie replied, crossing her arms. "It's a necessary evil if you want to survive. The act of living itself causes pain for everyone!... JUST KIDDING AGAINNNN! KYEHAHAHA!"

"She really likes to go back and forth, doesn't she?" Tikal said.

"Well, THIS should be enough to convince you!" Sonic interrupted. "This murderous hag was responsible for Knuckles' death. There's clearly a motive, so there should be no doubt."

"A motive? Did she ever mention anything?" Espio asked.

"Remember what Egg Robo told us? If someone didn't murder and graduate within 24 hours, an embarrassing memory or secret would be revealed. Let's assume Amy's secret was that she was Rosie the Rascal. If a secret like that came to light, Amy's life would have been ruined. So, she had a very clear motive to never have that part of her exposed!"

"Interesting, my darling Sonikku! Very very very very VERY interesting!" Rosie replied.

"S-Sonikku? Don't tell me even when you're Rosie, you have that ghastly crush on me!"

"Sure bet I do! But that's besides the point! Sorry, my darling Sonikku! As much as I hate to admit it, I'm not the culprit!"

"What are you saying?" Jet asked. "Look at you! You're a serial killer AND you're our prime suspect!"

"And you like to commit serial killer discrimination!"

"But Jet makes a point..." Blaze added. "I can't imagine anyone other than you could murder someone in such a bizarre fashion."

"Maybe so, maybe so! But it's the truth and nothing but the truth! And the truth comes in four delicious flavors! Red, green, blue, and purple!"

"Do you expect ANYONE of us to believe you?!" Espio retorted, getting out his kunai.

"Exactly!" Tikal added. "I could never believe a word you say, you horrific monster!"

I stood thinking about. Maybe... Maybe she IS right about that, but... But something was still bothering me. What she said... I think I need more details about this!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Sorry, but I didn't kill anyone!" Rosie began.

"You SAY that, but do you expect us to believe it?" Espio replied.

"Now, IF you had an alibi... that would certainly change things up, wouldn't it?" Blaze added.

"OOOOOOOOOOH, an alibi, huh? Now we're talking!" Rosie responded.

"When you compare your past murders to this incident... the method in which you do them matches completely. What more proof do we need?" Sonic said.

"EEEE HE HE HEEEEE! Oh, my Darling Sonikku! You know just how to crack me up!"

"Give it up, you killed him!"

I had to remember Knuckles' body. Sonic said that the method in that Rosie kills was the same for Knuckles' body, but... was that the truth?

I knew quickly that it wasn't.

"Sonic, what did you say about the method?" I asked.

"I said that the method was the same-"

"No, that's wrong!"

"Ugh, that pathetic catchphrase of yours? I thought you phased that out."

"Deal with it, you moron! Now, prepare to hear this! Are the methods of murder REALLY the same? I'm not too sure about that!" I smiled. Finally, I was going to let Sonic have a taste of his own medicine after days of tormenting all of us here. "I think there's a slight difference between the Rosie the Rascal case and this one."

"Huh? How is it different?" Silver asked.

"First, let's talk a bit about what the case says in regards to the second reoccurring action in the Rosie file. It mentions that the victims are all killed by a 'bump to the head', likely to be a hammer."

"That's RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT, Chimcharm!" Rosie replied. "My lucky hammer does my killing! And that little body I saw looked NOTHING like a wound from my hammer!"

"Chimcharm? Are you referring to me?" I said, pointing to myself.

"Tch, well that's easy to refute," Sonic replied. "Rosie put the weight there to confuse us and make us think that the killer was someone else and not her."

"Well... that makes sense at least!" Silver replied.

"Uh-oh!" Rosie said. "Oh Sonikku-love, if you care so much about me, maybe you should have re-read my case file and the head injury! And as for you, you silver weed looking cutie, let me tell you! I murder with passion and conviction! I consider myself a professional and I have a particular way of doing things! Imagine if you went to a sandwich shop. They use only locally cut meats from butchers and farm grown vegetables for their toppings! But what happened to Knuckles... it's like if that same shop started using Oscar Meyer for their meats, and Dole for their vegetables! THIS is no creation of mine!"

I don't know why Rosie started getting so commercial all of a sudden... but I knew a few people would be lost. "Lemme rephrase that, in a way that makes a little more sense... There are two differences between the Rosie the Rascal cases and this one."

In the photos from the Rosie cases, I had to look at the neck and the stomach... which meant that the victim's fatal injury was the first difference!

"For one, the cause of death is different," I continued. "In the Rosie cases, all the victims were killed the same way, and in a very brutal fashion. The case file mentions that they were all killed with, most likely, a hammer. Rosie did confirm that her 'lucky hammer' did the killing, so we have no reason to deny that. Not to mention... Knuckles' wound didn't seem as brutal as the people here in the case files. While we're on the topic of Knuckles... we were talking about the barbell weight. If we compare Knuckles' wound to the people in the case file... there's no way he could have been killed with the hammer!"

"Actually, you bring up a good point, Charmy," Wave replied. "It does seem very odd that someone who kills the same way suddenly change it up. It's almost like... she didn't do it."

"Well, what about the other things?" Sonic asked.

"We're getting there, trust me," I replied. "There's still one more thing."

"That's right!" Rosie added. "In my recipe of murder, if the bloody message is the baked wheat bread... then the arrangement of the body would be a delicious roast beef with lettuce, tomato, honey mustard, AND barbeque!"

"Can you PLEASE stop comparing murder to food?..." Silver replied, looking uncomfortable.

"Well? What's that other difference?" Jet asked. "How does that compare to how the body was arranged?"

In the case file photos, everyone was hung up using a rope, which was white in color. There was a complete difference here though!"

"It had to with WHAT was used," I replied. "You see, in the case file, the victims are all hung up using a white rope. However, Knuckles wasn't hung up with white rope. He was instead hung up using an extension cord!"

"Right right right RIIIIIIIIIIGHT!" Rosie exclaimed. "And guess what? I use not only my own special lucky hammer for the murders, I also use my own special rope for the arrangement too! All dyed in a special white color you can't find in stores anywhere! Like I said, I'm a professional. So naturally, in VERY picky about the tools I use! And and and and and and and! You know what else?! Chimcharm said there's two differences, but he's wrong!"

There she goes with Chimcharm again...

"You see, you forgot the holes on the back!"

"The holes?" Storm asked.

"Right... that's actually important too!" I said. "If you remember, we talked about how the first thing every Rosie case has in connection is that the victim is stabbed multiple times with something small and thin, likely to be a pocket knife of some kind. Knuckles DID have holes on his back... however, they're not from a knife. Espio confirmed it after all."

"It is true," he responded, eyes closed. "The holes were far too big to come from something as small as a pocket knife. Not to mention, they were too round too. It's almost like... the wound came from a gun, not a knife."

"There was a gun in the lobby of the locker room..." Big said. "I remember that..."

"Okay, so... we should discuss the-" Tikal said before being interrupted by Rosie.

"NO NO NO! One more thing, Chimcharm! One more THING!"

"What now?" I asked, annoyed.

"There's one final piece of proof that I didn't kill Knuckles! Look at the case file again!"

Doing what she requested, I looked at the file. I noticed that none of the victims were girls... and they were all boys. She DID say she was the Ultimate Boy Killer but...

"It looks like you're confused, Chimcharm! Yeah sure, I'm the Ultimate Boy Killer, but that doesn't mean I kill EVERY boy I see! No no no, I kill the boys I LOOOOOOOOVE!"

"You love? Does that mean?"

"Bingo, bull's-eye, right on the money! Sure, Knuckles is a big, hunky beefcake... but sorry! He's not my type, so I'd have no reason to go after him! Now my darling Sonikku is a different story! He'd be one of the boys I wanna kill, but don't worry! I won't kill you! I'll just chase you around the world until you're finally mine!"

"Oh joy... I think I'd rather take a cyanide pill than have you chase me until the end of my life," Sonic grumbled.

"So with this... we can now confirm that everyone here in the Rosie case file were people she 'loved'," I said.

"Kyehahaha! My secret is out! Oh, heavenly Solaris, I'm so embarrassed!" Rosie laughed.

"W-What the hell is wrong with you?!" Shadow questioned. "Just because you love them doesn't make it any different! In fact, killing someone you 'love' seems counter-intuitive!"

"Aw, you know big words, Sherbet!" Rosie said, hands on her cheeks. "Besides, I can't help it! I'm just a full-throttle boy-on-boy fangirl! And even more than my other dumb self is! She only WISHES she could be like me! And to think she hides it too! But now I'm on the fast track to becoming a full-fledged fandom mom! If only I WAS a mom!"

"You are... one crazy pot of insanity..." Jet said, looking defeating.

"So, Knuckles 'wasn't your type', and that's why you didn't kill him?" Wave asked.

"Would a sandwich maker suddenly start making burgers just cause they're both sandwiches? Don't be stupid!" Rosie replied. "I have too much passion and conviction to cross that line! That's the absolute reality of the one and only Rosie the Rascal!"

"We get it, you stupid girl," Sonic spoke up. "You clearly explained your... little hobby, and your philosophy. But that's not all there is to it. It's different... when you're forced to kill to survive."

"Quiet, you assface!"

"A-Assface?!" Sonic's face looked twisted, clearly both enraged and also offended. I didn't think I would root for Rosie... but in that moment, I think I just did.

"I would NEVER kill for such a petty reason as 'survival'! AND, if by some fluke I DID kill to survive... then why would I bother with the message and arrangement? It'd make me the obvious suspect!"

"That... does make some amount of sense," Blaze said.

"And besides, why would I even use a weight to begin with? I'm stuck in the body of a delicate little girl who can lift shopping bags like its nothing, but anything else is a huge no-go for her! I'm honestly even lucky I can lift my lucky hammer!"

"Uh... if I may say something, Ms. Rosie the Rascal..." Big replied. "Maybe you could have used the weight because... your hammer isn't here?"

"Isn't here? ISN'T HERE?! Do you think I would use any old hammer?! No! No, I wouldn't! I only use my state of the art, high-class, envy of the entire WORLDDDDDD hammer!"

"Uh... well I don't see it anywhere, so I'm gonna assume you're lying about that," responded Silver, hands on his hips.

"Oh, so you think I'm lying? Are you sure about that?..."

Suddenly, Rosie pulled something from her dress as her expression changed to a more maniacal one that it already was. She raised up a large hammer that was yellow on the handle and face, and the cheeks of the hammer being red. It was topped with a spike on the top of the cheek.

"Da da-da daaaaaaaaa! Here it is! My lucky hammer, known properly as my Piko Piko Hammer!"

"Gaaaaah! She has it!" Big cried.

"Where did she even HIDE that?!" Jet added.

"That's right I have it! And don't worry about where I got it! I have it so I can kill anywhere, anytime! Why would I resort to a weight or an extension cord when I have my hammer with me? And not to mention... I got my rope with me too! Go ahead! Tell me I'm wrong? Ooops, you can't, can you? Lowly Pickies, all of you! And not to mention... I tie my rope a certain way! The way it's knotted holding up Knuckles? It's the wrong way!"

"I don't even know what's going on!" Storm replied. "Could... could it be true? Could Rosie REALLY be innocent?"

"But the body was suspended after all! Remember that nobody but the police knew about how it was rope that the victim was tied with," Shadow added.

"That's right!" Tikal said. "That's why we thought it was the real and not some copycat killer!"

My eyes widened when I heard what Shadow and Tikal were saying. Nobody but the police knew... and... they thought it was the real thing. Only one other person here in this room knows about the Rosie case in full detail... Someone who would have had access to the file before any of us. Someone like...

"Sonic..." I said. "It's possible you could have found out, isn't it? You had no problem gaining access to classified documents or internal police records in the archive. Biggest pointer of them all though? You looked through the Rosie files before this all happened, didn't you?!"

Sonic was silent, simply turned away from me with his arms crossed.

"Are you saying... Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog did it?..." Big asked.

"Aha! I had a suspicion he did it!" Jet added. "He's been sooooooo pushy on wanting to get Rosie convicted! That's something only a killer would do! Maybe YOU did something to Knuckles and made it seem like Rosie did it!"

Sonic continued to be silent.

"Answer the boss, hedgehog! Otherwise we're happy to vote for you so you can suffer your execution!" Storm angrily said.

"So... my Darling Sonikku rearranged the scene to disguise it and make it look like I'd put my stamp on it? OOOOOOOOOH!" Rosie hugged herself. "I knew you always cared about me, my Darling Sonikku! Who knew you cared about me so much that you wanted to emulate my crime scenes and say I did it! The fires of love are glowing even BRIGHTER!"

"What's your response, Sonic?! Answer us!" Espio said, kunai pointed at him.

Finally, Sonic got his smug look again and stared at the floor, eyes closed. "I see... So now the suspicion falls on me. Then I must ask: When would you say I began acting suspicious? Surely you must have an answer..."

"Looking back on it..." I replied. "Before Knuckles was found, you were acting strange. You were very cryptic about it, but also... knew to check the girl's locker room first. Why would you?"

"It's funny you mention that. It's only natural I should have checked the boys locker room, right? Is that what you wanted to say? Understandable... but only if the killer didn't leave the door so wide open."

"If they left it wide open... I don't see how that's strange..." Big commented.

"On the contrary, there's something VERY strange!" I argued back. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Okay then, what's so strange? Go ahead, bee, share with the rest of the class."

There was a clear contradiction in what Sonic just said... and I had to make it clear to everyone!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Charmy... you're arguing that Sonic was acting weird before we found the body, correct?" Tikal asked. "How was he acting weird?"

"Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog said to check the locker room... he also said the door was open... Could it have been the killer?... Or was it Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog?..." Big added.

"Of course it was the killer," Sonic replied. "The victim is Knuckles, a boy. If he was killed and displayed, it should have been in the boys locker room. But the killer left his body in the girl's locker room and left the door open for everyone to see. There was no time for pointless distractions. What's so strange about that?"

"This still isn't making sense..."

This was a bit difficult... Sonic DID bring up a good point. But however... something about 'leaving the door open'... Why would the killer leave it like that? And besides... wasn't it closed when we got there? How could he have known?

"Sonic, that's wrong!" I said. "I'll tell you what's strange about that! Up until we discovered the body, we couldn't have known who it was! The doors to the locker room weren't open when I arrived there, so if it was left open like you said... who closed it? So that means that what you're saying doesn't hold up!"

"I see, that's a good answer, I must admit. Interesting... very interesting!" Sonic said, smiling. "But your reasoning is still too weak, bee!"

"Huh?"

"What's wrong, bee? Is that it? I thought you had more proof than that. If I were to guess where you're going with this... you think that because the door was closed when you arrived, and that I just so happened to know where Knuckles was, then those two incidents are connected, right?"

What's with Sonic's attitude? He just revealed something big but... he acts like he doesn't care. I have him cornered to a point where he just admitting something but... he acts like it has nothing to do with him! And why do I like going silent after my buts?

"What's the matter? You're not finished already, are you? There must be more to it... of course, it's just like how you are, Charmy. You pressure other people, but once you hit a wall, you act like you have nothing to say..."

"The-There is... I think."

"I think I had enough listenin'," Vector said. "There IS more to it. Think 'bout it, we talked 'bout the differences between this case and the past Rosie the Rascal cases. The proof yer lookin' fer is hidden in there."

"Oh, proof? Proof that I'm the culprit, you mean?" Sonic asked.

The differences between this case and the other Rosie cases...

And that's when, looking down at my notes, I saw something I had written down.

 _"remember gatling gun"_

"Waaaait!" I exclaimed. "Wait wait wait! There's one thing I think that can prove it! We did discuss it earlier..."

Vector looked at me silently, almost as if he knew what I was going to say.

"It was the gatling gun! Remember what we said about the holes on Knuckles' back and how they didn't look like they were from a pocket knife, but looked like gun shots? Well, during my investigation... I happened to smell fresh gunpowder from the muzzle. I think what happened was... the gun was used after his death, as the EggPad said that the holes didn't cause his death."

"It's... rather impressive how he can somehow survive that," Wave said. "Repeatedly being shot should knock someone down instantly, but with someone like Knuckles..."

"'Scuse me, 'scuse me, over here!" Rosie said. "That's one thing but... you forgot something else! You wanna know, huh?"

I was a bit confused but... anything to go on with the debate!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Soooo, you wanna know the differences between the cases, huh?" Rosie asked. "Want me to explain it again? When I kill, I use my Piko Piko Hammer, and when I display my work, I use my own rope that is dyed with a certain color!"

"But Knuckles was displayed different," Blaze added. "A different kind of rope than what Rosie uses, perhaps?

"Yeah, that's right! It was on his wrists too," Jet replied.

"Then I think that there's something wrong with the rope Mr. Knuckles the Echidna was tied up with..." Big said.

"Hey faker, where'd you get from, huh?!" Shadow questioned.

Sonic turned away from the rest of us. "I've never seen that rope before in my life. Someone must have hid it."

I didn't have to think about it."No, that's wrong! You ARE lying! You HAVE seen that before! That 'rope' isn't a rope. It's the cord of an extension cord!"

"Whaa?! It was an extension cord?!" Big said, surprised.

"That's right. You used this exact extension cord reading your books in the library. It was in there all this time, and it went missing after the murder! You're the only one who uses that extension cord the most, so how couldn't you have noticed that it was missing?"

"So... Sonic took that extension cord?" Jet questioned. "Oh well now that just implicates him, doesn't it?! Hey, hedgehog freak! How did it feel killing Knuckles and trying to act like Rosie did it, eh?! I bet you were SOOOOOO jealous that that he tried to lead everyone else besides us, that you felt offing him was better! I bet that wasn't even about that whole dumb secret of yours!"

Sonic looked at the ground, arms crossed, and... chuckled. "Oh, this is comical. That's REALLY what you think? Let me guess... your conclusion is something like this: I killed Knuckles by beating him across the head with the barbell weight, forged the knife stabs by getting his body shot by the gatling gun, then somehow got in the girls locker room, hung him up, and wrote the bloody message so I could intentionally make it look like Rosie the Rascal was behind it. Is that about right?"

…

He was doing it again. He was calm and unconcerned, as if...

He wasn't even involved.

"What's wrong, Charmy? I asked you if you think that's what happened. So? Answer me!"

"Of course that's what happened!" Shadow said. "So that's it right? That faker over there is the killer!"

"I don't disagree with not disagreeing!" Rosie added.

"He kept calling this a game, right? I'm sure Sonic would do something like this to win! Well, it's game over for you, bud! Hope you enjoy the afterlife with Tails, I heard it's great this time of year!" Jet mocked.

Sonic grit his teeth and clenched his fists. **"TAKE... THAT... BACK...!"**

"Wait, everyone!"

The whole room turned to look at me. "I'm sorry but... we need to hold on for one second. I... I think we need to talk about this a little more."

"Huh?" Silver asked. "Do we really need to? We've already decided who did it!"

"I mean... I GUESS but still... There's something that's still bothering me."

"Is that right? And what, pray tell, is bothering you?" Sonic questioned. "I killed him in the main lobby, then disguised my crime. Specifically, I dressed it up to make it look like it was the work of a serial killer. What about all of that bothers you?!"

I scratched my chin, looked down at my notes. The gatling gun... the gatling gun... There had to be something there.

"Okay, I think I got it... what's bothering me is the scene. You said you killed Knuckles by using your PAD on the girls locker room. But... how did you eventually open it? Because... what if the PAD was switched?"

"Oh, how disappointing... What kind of question is that? In the world of disappointments, that's the most disappointing question I've heard! We found him in the girls locker room. Should that implicate that's where the scene of the crime was? How could the scene be anywhere else."

"I can answer if you answer the truth. If you're the killer, how did you manage to get into the girls locker room?"

"Simple, I took the first girl's PAD I saw in the mailbox and used it."

"And you did all of that knowing you left the murder scene poorly rushed?"

"Poorly rushed? That was awfully specific. You have a reason for saying all of that, no?"

"I do."

Before I wanted to prove my evidence, I noticed something about Sonic's behavior. It was almost like... I took him off guard. When the story suddenly moved to the crime scene, Sonic, who'd been so confident up till now...

Maybe he realized he blew his cover by how the crime scene was cleaned?

"Hey, make sense!" Storm said. "I'm tryin' to follow along!"

"Come on, Charmy! If there's any chance that proves the scene was poorly cleaned, show the proof!"

"It has to do with a mop we found in the investigation," I began.

"Your proof... is a mop?!"

"It was in the corner of the locker room lobby, almost like it was put there with no real care. However... there were still some bloodstains around the floor and lower walls not cleaned up. So, while it was used to clean up PARTS of the scene, it didn't erase everything about it completely!"

"And? What does that mean?"

"You've been so uptight about everything in the past few days, even in our investigation and trial. Why then, would you suddenly clean up a murder scene like it was nothing for everyone else to find?!"

"Argh-!"

"So wait, Charmy... are you... are you saying Sonic didn't do it?" Wave asked.

"Then how the heck did Knuckles get in the girls locker room, then?! Sonic didn't switch out the PAD's like he said he did, I bet!" Jet added.

"No, I think he DID have a way! And I can tell you what it was!" Silver said.

"I highly doubt that," Blaze replied.

"Shut up! I'm telling you, I know how he could have done it!"

Is he right? Was there a way that Knuckles could have entered the girls locker room?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT**

"But is it really possible? Could Knuckles have gotten the PAD of a girl? I doubt he could have known about that mailbox," Blaze replied.

"Maybe the PAD glitched and thought he was a girl!" Jet said. "I mean, there's no way these things are 100% tweak free."

"No no, remember what Sonic was confusing us about?" Silver added. "Something about switching the PAD's in the 'mailbox'?"

"What mailbox?" Big asked.

"I'm talking about the ones in the main hall! Either Rouge or Cream's PAD! He had to have switched them out with his own!"

Theoretically, Knuckles could do that. But the biggest question of them all was... Why? Even though it was found in the mailbox, why would have Knuckles done so in the first place?

"Hey Charmy, you're gonna do your line? You have that look on your face. Lemme say it again, I think HE-"

"No, that's wrong! See, I was thinking about this. While it's TRUE that Knuckles could have done it, and while we did find his PAD in the mailbox... why would he feel the need to get a girl's PAD? How did he benefit from it?"

"Not to mention... there is a regulation about using someone else's PAD, no?" Blaze said.

"Actually, the rule states that loaning your PAD is prohibited. It says nothing about borrowing one," Sonic replied. "In other words, you could borrow a dead person's PAD all you want and you'd be safe."

"Yup yup yup! Cracked the egg right on that one!" Egg Robo replied.

"So, while it does seem weird that Knuckles could switch his out... it's still a possibility that cannot be ruled out. Tragically though, it seems like we can't ask him why he did it, can we?"

"But that doesn't mean you're in the green, hedgehog!" Jet replied. "You STILL could have changed his PAD out to get into the girls locker room and alter the scene!"

"Hold on a second," Vector said. "Jet, Charmy, all of yeh right now... yer on the right track."

"You're NOW opening your mouth and THAT'S what you have to say?" Shadow questioned. "It's true that he can't get in there unless the killer were a girl or unless the PAD was switched. But again, I'm sure even you agree that's he can't have-"

"Why are ya so sure KNUCKLES was the one who swapped his PAD?"

This silenced Shadow.

"I think I get where you're coming from, croc. In actuality... I don't think Sonic had a real motive to kill Knuckles," Wave said. "Heck, he didn't even have a reason to be at the scene of the crime when it happened. Not to mention... he sees this as a game. He wouldn't just end it early, and the evidence is far too overt and there's still quite a few contradictions."

"So... it looks like you got me, Wave..." Sonic said.

"What do you mean?" Tikal asked. "We still believed you are the killer, Sonic!"

"Oh, you again? I assume in these murder trials you'd be quiet because it involves the thing you hate the most, but I guess you're speaking up for the class."

"Charmy... I wanna ask yeh. Do YEH think that Sonic's the killer even after all the new revelations and what Wave just said?" Vector asked.

"Well, if you were to ask me..." I began. "I think Sonic made the scene look like Rosie the Rascal. But as for being the killer... I... I don't know. I think... he may not be the killer."

"Mr. Charmy Bee... didn't you say Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog was the one who did it?..." Big asked.

"I was realizing this before but... he was too easygoing about this. It's almost like he's enjoying us solving this mystery. The way he's acting... it makes it seem like he has nothing to do with this."

"And you think that might be because it DOESN'T have anything to do with him?" Blaze asked.

"And it's just like Wave said. Everything left behind was too overt. He CHOSE the extension cord, thinking that we'd assume that's what Rosie the Rascal uses, despite the fact that, clear as day, she uses her own kind of rope which is even seen in the Rosie case files. At least, that's how I see it..."

Sonic was silent.

"Not to mention, you were rather rattled when I used the mop to contradict what you were saying earlier. If you were the killer, you shouldn't have been so shaken by that!"

"So that's your thinking, Charmy? Well, it bothers me that you don't have more concrete reasons but... it's fine. I guess you win this round for the time being."

"Win this round?" Tikal asked.

"He's right, Tikal. I'm NOT the culprit. I just happened to come across the corpse in the girls locker room and decided to alter it."

"Are you.. fucking with us?! You saw my bro and you... arranged him like that like he was your TOY?! FOR NO GOOD REASON?!" Shadow yelled.

"No, I am not... effing with you right now. I'm telling you the truth."

"And I'M telling you that you need to shut the fuck up!" Jet said. "You might not have done this, but what were you even trying to do? Trying tell us how 'ohhh big and better you are' than us, right?!"

"Go ahead, find it hard to believe. Feel free to be executed along with the rest of us, hawk."

"Then why... why would you do something so horrific?!" Tikal questioned.

"My reason doesn't matter now. Isn't finding out the culprit more important?"

"I think they do matter!-"

"And I think they DON'T, so sit down and shut up. Now then... to everyone in this room: if it wasn't me, then who did it?"

"Well... I don't think I can say for sure without finding out about it a little more," I said.

"We're REALLY not stopping?" Silver asked. "We're all good, weren't we? I thought it was clear that Sonic did it!"

"Naw, I'm with Charmy. If there's any doubt whatsoever, then we need to explore every possibility," Vector said.

"I agree with you, Vector," Espio replied. "If we're wrong... then we all die here."

"Then I'm with you too, reptiles," Blaze added, smiling.

"Damn straight! Count me in!" Silver said.

I nodded. "Okay so... let's discuss this all as a group one more time. We still have time to make our decision."

"Our lives are on the line... I hope we can come to a conclusion..." Tikal said.

"Excellent. So let's continue our game of hide and seek..." Sonic said.

But if Sonic didn't do it? Then who's the real killer? Who killed Knuckles?


	18. Chapter 2 (Class Trial (Part 2))

**MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Isn't there a single clue that might lead us to who did it?" Espio asked.

"Well, clues are one thing... but nobody really saw the killer? I mean, come on! It's not that hard, is it?" Jet added.

"I'm sure if someone saw the killer, they should have said something..." Silver sighed.

"Perhaps someone was up around the time of the murder. Even that might be enough for now," Espio continued.

"All we need right now is new information," Tikal said. "If Knuckles was up so late and likely, killed in the locker room, that means someone could have seen him go there."

"But... there IS none! It's over... it's all over!" Silver whined. "You wanna know who saw the victim? The killer and ONLY the killer! And it's not like they're just gonna turn themselves in... It's game over, man! Cue the sad music!"

"No!..." Big added. "I don't want it to be game over!"..."

The killer and ONLY the killer saw Knuckles? You couldn't be any more wrong about that, Silver.

"No, that's wrong!"

"I'm... wrong?" the white hedgehog looked surprised.

"I just so happened to have the accounts of two people who were up on the night of the murder: Shadow and Blaze. Isn't that right?"

The two nodded, Blaze saying; "I suppose that only Charmy knows about this. The rest of you had no idea, did you? That's probably why you all look so ugly with looks of confusion on your faces."

"Now, this is what Shadow told me: He was working out with Knuckles together when, they had gotten into a heated argument. Shadow, who didn't want anything to be strained between them, left in a huff, leaving Knuckles behind in the locker room. He was headed to his room when he heard something shuffling and someone enter the locker room, but didn't think much of it and assumed it was someone who wanted to work out, and didn't even bother checking out who it was. At the same time... Blaze, who was using the second-floor bathroom to cool down from practicing her pyrokinesis, had come out and passed by the angry Shadow, who blew her off. Now, I mention this because it was in this interval from when Shadow left the locker room and saw Blaze come out that the person he saw make their move. As a result, Blaze couldn't have seen who that person was."

"Weirdly enough though... I didn't see Shadow on my way back. Although, I assume that you were in such a hurry to get back in your room, and I did go rather slow on my way back."

"Y-Yeah," Shadow nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I think that's our biggest mystery, finding out who that person was. I didn't get a clear look, cause when the door opened, they had already stepped in. How they did it that fast, I'm not even sure."

"He makes a good point..." I said. "Knowing what we know... we can't even GUESS. There's quite a few factors that leave it up to it being anyone at this point.

"Charmy... yeh already have the connection," Vector said.

"Huh?"

"Shadow, I wanna ask yeh a question. This... strange person yeh saw... I know yeh and Knuckles had that argument, but even then... I'm sure your friendship with him didn't die in that argument. Why didn't ya investigate?"

"I-It's because of the argument!" Shadow said. "I just said so! I wasn't even thinking right, and even foolishly thought that if it was a killer, that he could go get bent for all I cared about."

"And, ya did go to your room after yer argument, right?"

"Of course. Why the hell are you pressuring me anyway?!"

"No reason, just wanna make it clear to Charmy. Because I think with this... he should know who the killer is."

"He does?! Charmy, tell me! Who did it?! Who killed my bro?!"

"Think back to the PAD, Charmy. Focus on the detail of that, and it should be obvious from there!"

"Are you certain about that?" Blaze asked. "The PAD? What does that have to do with anything?"

I looked down at my notes when I noticed one of my clues: Rouge's PAD. My eyes widened but... could this alone expose the killer?

"Do we need fingerprints?..." Big asked.

"Even if we had the equipment for that, we don't know how to use it, slow cat!" Jet replied.

"There's plenty of ways to disguise evidence," Sonic said. "There's nothing TO get fingerprints from."

Vector scratched his chin. "Maybe... but I think we can make certain inferences, if we just take the time to talk it out."

"That does seem easy because of your ultimate title, Vector..." Tikal replied. "Did we all notice anything about the PAD?"

Most shook their heads. I was waiting to just expose the truth of the PAD but... something was pulling me back. What was I waiting for?

"Well..." Vector said, breaking the silence. "Let's explore the PAD and talk a bit more 'bout it. At the same time... let's also discuss the time leadin' up to Knuckles' death."

No doubt... this could be it. This could be the key to expose the killer but...

"Was it enough?" I asked myself.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"First of all, we know where Knuckles and Shadow were. They were in the locker room arguin', and that's when Shadow left. So now we gotta to ask: if they were in the room together, how was Knuckles' PAD changed if Shadow apparently went back to his room? Could it be that Shadow was right and he did see someone?" Vector asked.

"What do you mean, changed?" Wave asked.

"He had either Rouge's or Cream's! That's why we're trying to figure out how he got it in the first place, and if Mr. Dark and Brooding is telling the truth... then that person who went in swapped 'em out!" Jet said.

"So... if I'm getting this... the killer's switched his PAD with Rouge's? But I made sure to check mine, and I knew the one I had was mine after the murder!" Shadow said.

"I have mine too..." Big said.

"So do I!" Silver added.

"Did any of that really help us getting closer to finding out who the culprit was?" Blaze asked.

"Nope, not one bit," Shadow replied.

Vector looked at me. "You heard him, right? What he said just now?"

My eyes widened. "Yes. I heard him."

I realized then and there that this entire trial, we just discussed theories as to which PAD Knuckles had, but not WHO'S it was 100%. Blaze and I talked about it earlier, and we seemed to be the only ones who know the truth.

So how... how did Shadow know EXACTLY whose PAD Knuckles had?

"Hold on a second, Shadow! What did you just say?"

"Huh? What did I say?" he replied, confused.

"At no point in this trial have we discussed, with complete guarantee, whose PAD was on Knuckles' body. We just SAID it was a girl's PAD, not specifically Rouge's! So why are you so certain it was Rouge's?"

"What are you?!" Shadow now looked unhinged. "I-I mean... it had to be either her's OR Cream's regardless!"

"Mr. Charmy Bee... Mr. Shadow the Hedgehog didn't examine the body when we were bodyguarding... I think I should bring that up..." Big said.

Shadow growled, his fist shaking.

"Hey, whoever actually did know about the PAD... whose specifically was it?" Sonic asked.

"I examined it when we were checking out the body and sure enough... Rouge's PAD was in Knuckles' pocket," Blaze replied. "And... I just want to mention... I ONLY told Charmy about this. No one else."

"Then Shadow... there has to be SOME reason you know about which PAD Knuckles had. Big didn't see you examine his body during the investigation, and Blaze testified that she only talked to Charmy about her finding," Espio said, eyes glaring at the black hedgehog.

"A-Again! I had a feeling, okay?! If it wasn't Rouge's, then it'd be Cream's!"

"I spot a liar!" Rosie said. "The only reason he could have known about which PAD it was..."

"I think I know what you're getting at, Rosie," I said. "Shadow, you testified that you left for your room after your argument. But... did you REALLY go back to your room like you said?!"

"Ooh, ooh! I know, I know! Pick me, Mr. Chimcharm! I know the answer! I bet Sherbet went to the main hall, grabbed the PAD from the mailbox, and replaces Knickknack's with that other girl's! So, how 'bout it? Before you left from your argument, did you see the girl's PAD anywhere?"

"J-Just by chance! I noticed there was a mark on the PAD that shouldn't have been there! I know my bro didn't have it on his so that's why-" Shadow said before getting cut off.

"No, that can't be it either," I said. "Blaze saw the PAD, and did it have any mark?"

She shook her head.

"Not to mention... the PAD had to have gotten in the room after you left. So, while it's true you DID see the PAD, you saw it before anyone else!"

"A-Argh!"

"So, looks like yeh just dug yer own grave, Shadow," Vector said, arms crossed.

"Perhaps, but it looks like you handed him the shovel. You told Charmy to focus on the PAD and he made his mistake," Sonic said. "Hu hu hu... now who's the faker now?"

"Ah, now I understand..." Blaze said. "You used the PAD as a way to bait out Shadow, didn't you? That's why you said you knew who did it, to put them on edge."

"S-So the edgehog was the one who did it!" Jet said. "Pfft, that was easy to guess! I figured he'd be the first to murder with his constant anger!"

"Yer all right, however..." Vector continued, pointing at the hedgehog next to him. "Shadow, yah've been mah target all along! I had mah eye on you from the very start!"

Shadow grit his teeth, holding onto the sides of his stand.

"But why?" I asked. "What made you suspicious?"

"There was a certain turnin' point that tipped me off. Think 'bout the argument. What WAS the argument that set off both Knuckles and Shadow? I know they've been buddy buddy since yesterday... but with how they were acting, it seems suddenly weird that they'd react to a situation like this and not confide in each other."

"Confide? What the hell are they confiding in?!" Storm asked.

"Oh... I dunno... maybe somethin' like... a secret yeh don't want anyone to know 'bout?"

We were all silent until Rosie broke the silence. "Oh WOOOOOOOOOOOW, he so totally knew that! He's a wizard I say, a wizard! He's so frightful!"

"Frightful?" Vector chuckled. "Nah, I wouldn't say I'M frightful. Not frightful unlike... someone willin' to kill their best bro."

"K-Kh!..." Shadow growled. I could watch sweat drip from his face as it... it almost looked like he was becoming paler.

"Shadow... was it really you?" I asked. "Did you really... kill Knuckles? And why? You were 'best bros' as you put it. Why would you do this?"

"I... I... I-I... I-I! I DIDN'T KILL **ANYONE**!" he suddenly roared. "You... you ALL have been all **FUCKING** over me, judging **EVERYTHING** I say, putting words into **MY GODDAMN MOUTH**! And worst of all... SAYING... SAYING I KILLED THE ONLY PERSON I WAS CLOSE TO IN THIS ZONE!"

Tears fell down from Shadow's face as he continued. "What... what gives you ALL the right to treat me like a damn criminal?! W-What gives you the right to think I killed my bro?!"

"I agree, Shadow," Vector said. "Mah reasonin' IS a little shaky, ain't it?"

"Jeez... that was fast..." I said, conflicted.

"Well, this does present us with a problem. We're all out of leads," Blaze said. "Shadow is denying that he killed Knuckles, and he does present his own personal relationship with him as proof."

"I uh... can I speak up now?..." Big asked. "There's one more thing I forgot to mention..."

"Oh that's right!" I exclaimed. "Big, when you were telling me to meet Blaze, didn't you say you found evidence you 'weren't sure about'?"

"Really? What kind of evidence?" Tikal asked.

Big was silent and began to shake. "Uh... I'm still not sure about it though..."

"Cat..." Wave added. "Normally I think you'd be the LAST person I expect to contribute to a mystery but... you HAVE to share it now that you said it!"

"Jeez, did your confidence just get up and walk away! It's fine, man! Just tell us!" Silver said.

Big nodded. "W-Well... okay..." He then held up a PAD. "Here it is..."

"HMMMMMMMMMMM? Whaddya have there?" Rosie asked.

"It was... left in the lobby of the locker room... I think someone put it there so... I grabbed it."

Left there?

Come to think of it... the way the PAD looked right now...

"Isn't that... the broken PAD that was in the mailbox?" I asked.

"What do you mean, broken?" Tikal asked.

"During my investigation with Sonic, we uncovered three PAD's within a mailbox in the main hall of the first floor. We found Cream's, Knuckles', and one more that was broken. We assumed it was Tails', since he had it on his during his execution, but Egg Robo said that even if you have a brutal execution, your PAD wouldn't break that easily."

"Ah, I see! So, if that is Tails'... then how the hell did it break?" Jet asked.

"But does that broken PAD even hold some clue about the culprit?" Tikal asked. "I mean, it's Tails'! How could it?"

"I think we need to discuss HOW it could have broke in the first place," I said. "But still... is the PAD really that fragile?"

"Of course it isn't!" Egg Robo said. "They're totally waterproof and shock-resistant! It would take an awful lot of work to break one..."

"And yet, this one is broken. How is that, Egg Robo?" Blaze asked. "You touted them being indestructible, and yet one still broke."

"Ho ho ho... do you think there might be some kind of mystery in there somehow? How, precisely, did the PAD get broken?"

How it could break? There was only one possibility...!

"You said that the PAD contains one weak point, didn't you?" I asked.

"ARGH! You remember that?!" Egg Robo said off-guard. "S-Sure, maybe I DID let that slip, but I never told anyone what the weak point actually was!"

"The PAD, as you said, was never meant to break," Espio said. "And yet... Tails, who died, somehow has his broken. I'd even theorize that it broke after his execution, not during or before, because we saw him use it when he revealed his true name. Then..."

"Then we can assume that someone figured out its weakness," Vector added. "Well, Egg Robo? Yeh know what the weakness is? So? What is it?"

"Huh? You're asking me?" Egg Robo held his hands up to his face.

"I think it's necessary to tell us if yeh want this to be a fair class trial."

"But... if I tell you and someone else decides to copy it... that would be very not good..."

"Why would we want to break our own PAD?!" Tikal questioned. "Please, Egg Robo! Tell us!"

The robot sighed. "Oh well, I have a weakness for pushy demands. Just... promise me you won't follow their example? Then allow me to make a special announcement! The weak point of my cutting-edge PAD is... when it's exposed to high temperatures for too long, it'll suffer a meltdown and break!"

"Is there a place where such a thing can happen?" Wave asked. "Actually... wait a minute... I haven't been in that bathhouse myself but... wasn't there a sauna there?"

"Yup! The temperature in the sauna can reach up to two hundred degrees Fahrenheit! Stange how you don't get burned, huh? It's because as your sweat evaporates, it creates a cooling layer of air around your skin! If the hot air of the sauna were somehow pushed directed onto your skin, you'd definitely get fried! That layer of air would get blown away. That's why you might feel a burning when you move around! So when you're in a sauna, make sure to keep nice and still!"

"Wow, I learned something new today!" Storm smiled.

"Jeez, I didn't come here for a science lesson..." Jet bemoaned.

"...Anyway... Egg Robo said that the only way to break the PAD is exposure to high temperatures. And Wave... you're potentially theorizing that it was broken in the sauna. My guess is... someone took Tails' PAD into the sauna and broke it," I said.

"But that doesn't explain the WHY part, bee. What reason would someone have to break Tails' PAD?" Sonic questioned.

"Well, think of it like this. The culprit would have already known its weakness to break Tails', no?" Espio asked.

"But how? Egg Robo said he didn't tell anyone!" Tikal added.

"So, we're back at square one..." Big complained.

"What if they found out by ACCIDENT?" Vector asked.

Espio looked like he was taken off guard. "Accident? Where are you going with this, Vector?"

"What if the killer took their own PAD into the sauna, not realizin' its weakness, and broke? They'd realize it was broken, and with that, they figured out the weak point. Most likely... the killer did the same with Tails'. Why? Well, I'm still not sure yet... maybe to disguise what they did? Or maybe... maybe the killer only broke THEIR own handbook, and not Tails'."

My eyes widened.

"Is there anyone who even went to the sauna, though?" Sonic asked.

And now, my jaw dropped.

"I only know two people who did," I suddenly said. "The first was Knuckles, who left his clothes and everything when he went to the sauna. And the second... who took their clothes inside the sauna with everything on them..."

I could see Shadow grit his teeth as his face grew red. I didn't want to do it... I didn't want to bring Shadow to his death but... I had no choice.

"...it was Shadow! Your PAD got broken in the sauna, didn't it? Your PAD is the one Big has on him right now, isn't it?"

"Wh-Wh-What?!" the black hedgehog retorted. "That's... you... you have no proof!"

"Did you forget who officiated your little contest? That's right, you and Knuckles had that endurance contest in the sauna two days ago, remember? That's where you became friends with him. During that contest... you brought your clothes inside the sauna, not realizing that you left your PAD somewhere in your pockets. And when it was over... he realized the key to breaking a PAD!"

"Ngh... argghhhhh!"

"Is... is that true? Do you have proof?" Tikal asked. "Could he really do that?"

I don't want to believe it either... but... there's one final thing that proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Let's test Charmy's theory," Vector began. "IF what he said is true, then Shadow... that means yeh broke yer own PAD and that the one Big has is actually yers. And yeh took Tails' to make it seem like yeh have yer PAD on yeh!"

"So if we can just prove that... then that proves that what Charmy said is right," Blaze added.

"Well I have my goddamn PAD right here!" Shadow argued, grabbing his jacket collar.

"Just SAYING that you have it isn't enough. Prove it, hedgehog. Is it yours or not?" Wave asked.

No... Shadow's PAD definitely broke during his sauna showdown. If I can prove that... then I can prove that he has Tails'!

"Does it?" I asked. Shadow loked confused.

"Huh? I have it on me-"

"No, that's wrong!" I stared Shadow in the eye, pointing at him. "Wave is right. Just SAYING it doesn't cut it."

"T-The fuck is that supposed to mean?!"

"As I'm sure you remembered... we found three PAD's in the mailbox. Cream's, Knuckles', and a broken one. We proved that Knuckles had Rouge's this whole time. But where was Tails' you ask? Simple: could it be that maybe YOU took it after breaking yours? After all, Egg Robo said that Tails' handbook couldn't have been broken."

"That's right!" Egg Robo replied. "The punishment it suffered wasn't nearly enough to destroy it!"

"So then... the one Big has with him is no doubt Shadow's," Blaze said. "And this means that, without a doubt, the one Shadow has on him is Tails'. Correct?"

"But doesn't that violate the zone regulation that says loaning your PAD is prohibited?" Tikal asked.

"Well... here's how I look at it!" Egg Robo replied. "There IS a rule about loaning your PAD to another student. But if they're dead, they're not really a student, are they? I know it's a bit morally grey, but no worries! If anything, it just makes things more interesting! As such, I decree that exchanging PADs with that of someone who died is not a violation of the rules!"

"Well, Shadow?" I said, looking at my hands. "I understand that I might have had some points wrong here and there. So... if I'm wrong about this, you're welcome to say so."

"Y-You... you son of a bitch!" Shadow continued to growl. "I... I refuse to say anything! I refuse to comply to your demands!"

Scowling, I only knew there was one way to go from here. "Fine. Then, why don't we look back on this case one more time from the beginning? That way, everything will become clear! And then we'll see if I'm right or wrong! Alright everyone, listen up! Here's how everything went down!"

 **CLOSING ARGUMENT**

"This case began late last night in the locker room. Knuckles and the killer were having a heated argument. While we're not sure what the argument was about one hundred percent, it was heated enough that the killer left the room, enraged. During this time, Blaze, who was cooling off from her pyrokinetic practice in the bathroom, exited only to come across the killer walking down the hall. When she asked what was wrong, the killer told them to bother off. When they had arrived in the main hall, they had decided to enact their revenge against Knuckles. So, the killer made their way to the main hall, over to the mailbox, and grabbed Rouge's PAD from the mailbox, as they already knew about this because they had replaced their broken PAD with Tails'. And so, they returned to the locker room and quickly replaced Knuckles' PAD with Rouge's. With that, Knuckles tried to get back into the boys locker room unknowingly using Rouge's PAD, with the killer watching them. The gatling gun started up and shot Knuckles in the back, which explains all the blood splatters left on the wall. This didn't kill Knuckles, however, most likely feeling remorse at what they had just done, the killer quickly grabbed a barbell weight and smashed it against Knuckles' head, most likely as a way to end his suffering. With that, Knuckles died, and the killer got started on cleaning up the scene. First, the killer used Rouge's PAD to enter the girl's locker room and dumped Knuckles' body in there to make it seem like a girl had killed him. Next, he found a mop that he used to clean up the blood stains and threw it in the corner without much care. Most likely... if I had to guess, he left the PAD somewhere, because this is about to go into my second point."

I coughed and continued. "You see, that COULD have been the end of everything. But no... Sonic discovered the body and found the PAD abandoned to wherever the killer left it, and he decided to make things even more complicated. So, he grabbed the PAD, returned to the library to grab the extension cord, and 'went to work' as you will. He used the cord to string up Knuckles' lifeless body. Then, using the victim's own blood, he left a grisly message at the scene of the crime. He wanted to create the illusion that Rosie the Rascal was responsible for the slaughter. At that same time... the killer returned to the main hall and placed Knuckles' PAD in the mailbox, making the killer seem like it was either a girl who did it, or someone who got his PAD. As long as no one knew they had Tails', then the killer would be in the clear. That's how it all played out..."

The room spun and felt like it was only us two as I pointed at Shadow, who was scowling hard. "...Isn't that right, Shadow the Hedgehog?!"

Shadow only continued to make noises, not able to argue back.

"I know you won't budge, Shadow. So, we need to check our PAD's. If you refuse to show it, then that only implicates you, you know."

"It... it is mine..." Shadow argued back, only less certain of himself.

"No, it isn't. Now, we need you to show us-"

"We don't have to do that."

"Huh?"

Shadow hung his head and shoulders, shaking. "Yeah... Yeah... I admit it. I did it. I killed him."

"S-Shadow...! What... what are you saying?!" Tikal asked.

"Tikal... I know you believe in the good of everyone, but... I have no chance. With all the arguments against me... I have to give up."

Then, Shadow reached into his pocket, pulled out a PAD, and turned it on. As it booted up, we all watched as the name displayed.

 **Miles 'Tails' Prower**

"Go ahead, Egg Robo... get it over with. Ask for the goddamn verdict!"

"Okie-dokie! Your wish is my command! Now, it's time for the moment we've all been waiting for! Grab that lever and give it a yank! Who will be the blackened this time? Will you make the right choice? Or the dreadfully wrong one? What will it be? What will it be?!"

I was shocked. Shadow wasn't trying to argue against us like with Tails... he was... admitting it.

Just like last time, our stands turned into seventeen levers with pictures of ourselves on it. I grabbed the lever with Shadow's picture on it and pulled back. A minute later, the levers went away as the same slot machine from last time popped up.

The 'Egg Robo VOTE' machine displayed the same thing as with last time, only this time, when the reels of the machine began to slow down, it stopped on a triple of Shadow's picture. 'GUILTY' was displayed in L.E.D. lights as rings shot from the machine. The slot machine rose up... and we knew that it was over...

And our terror would only continue from here.

 **CLASS TRIAL #2**

 **END**

* * *

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN... you got it right again!" Egg Robo said as he got out from his chair and got in between the middle of us. "Yup! It's so! Our second blackened, the one responsible for killing Knuckles the Echidna was... his only friend in the entire world! Shadow the Hedgehooooggg!"

Shadow didn't look at any of us. He simply hung his head and refused to say anything.

"S-Shadow... why did you do it?!" Tikal asked. "Knuckles was your friend! He was the one you called your bro!"

"Tikal... I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Please... we have to know!" Tikal began to cry. "W-Why... why did you do it?"

Shadow gave the echidna girl the silent treatment. I simply frowned, knowing that Shadow wasn't ready to accept his fate.

"Well, it looks like Mr. Shadow has taken a vow of silence! So now, I'll take over from here!" Egg Robo said. "The story of the murder this time... has to do with his little secret! Oh, but for anyone who doesn't wanna hear it, feel free to scroll down until I say it's okay to stop scrolling, readers! Now... ahem... let us begin with Uncle Egg Robo's story time..."

* * *

 _Once upon a time, just earlier this morning, there existed two boys. Their names were Knuckles the Echidna and Shadow the Hedgehog. They were such best bros, always being friendly, confiding in each other. However, there was a huge secret that Shadow was hiding. Shadow wanted to confide in Knuckles, but Shadow refused. To think that he couldn't even tell his best bro! Knuckles even revealed his secret, that he couldn't read past primary zone level, but despite telling him that and that if they worked together, then there would be no reason to kill, Shadow refused to listen, and the two 'bros' became a couple of seconds short from having angry sex! Nyo ho ho ho! I'm just kidding. Anyway..._

 _What was Shadow's secret you ask? Well, we need to talk about Shadow and his background first. You might be a bit confused about what his ultimate talent is. I mean, what the heck even IS an Ultimate Lifeform anyway? Well, I'll gladly tell you!_

 _Shadow the Hedgehog... was biologically created._

 _That's right! He isn't organic at all! Shadow the Hedgehog was created in a lab using DNA from the Black Arms, an alien race that wanted to send one of their own kind to Mobius as a... kind of test as you will. As a result, Shadow was made to be the 'Ultimate Lifeform', never getting sick, being strong physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. Essentially, he was made to be the most perfect living being in the world. He wasn't just created by the Black Arms though, he was also made by the great scientist, Gerald Robotnik. We actually go back a bit! In fact, you could even say we're drinking buddies! At least... until he died! He was an old fart, so it was expected!_

 _Anyway, during his conception and first few days, he made a connection with the scientist's granddaughter, Maria. Oh, how they were such good friends! How he'd mess up Maria's fresh laundry, eat chocolate when he wasn't supposed to, basic things that you mobians do when you're babies! The thing is, Maria was sick with a deathly illness, so being with Shadow was her way of coping with her illness. However... not everything would be all sunshine and rainbows. The government of Mobotropolis, who realized what Gerald was doing and had warned him not to do what he was doing, had send the military organization, G.U.N, to exterminate everyone on board for the highly illegal activities they were doing!_

 _The Black Arms pretty much abandoned ship, leaving our galaxy for another one now that they had hope that Shadow would survive! But tragically... everyone on ship died excepted for Shadow and Maria, who were able to use an escape pod to return to the surface of Mobius. From there, the two had to survive hopping from place to place, avoiding government officials trying to scout for Maria, oh how dreadful it was! But they didn't mind, because they had each other!_

 _At least, until the day they were caught._

 _They ran and ran for minutes upon minutes, but more and more agents came after them. They were chased until they came across a waterfall. Shadow ran forward to jump in but... he pushed poor ol' Maria accidently, causing her to fall down onto the floor. And tragically, she couldn't get up. Just as Shadow was about to hit the water, he could hear the sounds of Maria's screams and multiple gunshots._

 _So now, you may ask: After all that backstory, what WAS Shadow's secret? It's simple..._

 _Shadow the Hedgehog is the reason the most important person in his life, Maria Robotnik, is dead._

 _Since then, Shadow became a loner, not wanting to get close to anyone after fearing that another Maria would happen again. Even when he came to Green Hills, he couldn't escape his fears, and didn't want anyone to know the truth. So, when the lovely and hateful Egg Robo announced the revealing of the embarrassing secrets, Shadow knew the last thing he wanted was for people to find out the truth about him._

* * *

"It's true..." Shadow said. "This... it's just like what happened with Maria. Anytime I finally become close to someone... I kill them. First it was her... and now it was Knuckles. I... I thought I could finally move on from Maria. I thought I could finally have my first friend since her. I thought I was finally given a second chance. But no... it was my rage, my insecurities... what led me to kill Knuckles like I did Maria. Her death... all the guilt I've been carrying around... That's why... I... I-!"

I had a sad look on my face. "Shadow..."

"After I saw what Egg Robo had on me... my head just filled up with fuzzy uneasiness. And... and worst of all... Knuckles asked me about it when we were working out. I didn't know what to do about it. I wasn't sure what to think or say, but after a while... my uneasiness turned into a rock-hard lump of anxiety."

* * *

 **EARLIER THAT MORNING...**

 _"Bro..." Knuckles said, looking worried. "I know you must be worried about your secret being revealed. However, you don't have to tell the others. I trust in you, Shadow. Please, just tell me."_

 _"No... no, bro. You don't understand. It's more than just something silly," Shadow replied. "I know you trust in me, but I can't."_

 _"I told you my secret, bro! I swear to you, it's okay! I must prevent any murder, so if it means asking everyone their secrets..."_

 _"BRO... you're crossing a fucking line! If you know what was good for you, you'd drop this fucking conversation!"_

 _"Don't you get upset at me! I'm trying to prevent a murder but you're being uncooperative!"_

 _"I'm being fucking angry because this ain't on the same level as your dumb reading level! It's something that's too near and dear to me to just reveal like it's nothing!"_

 _"I know that you're strong, bro! Why do you think acting this way... acting like... like a child is the way to go, huh?! Do you think that being angry and just being silent about it is going to solve anything?!"_

 _"If you don't fucking want anything to happen... you're saying I should just be upfront about it? Like I can reveal it all casual? Lemme tell you something, Knuckles..."_

"I was jealous..." Shadow told us in the middle of his flashback. "I was jealous that Knuckles was able to overcome his fears and be open about his secret. He could face that he wasn't an intellectual, but he was still happy with who he was. He knew to overcome it... but it wasn't the strength I had. And my jealously... turned into rage.

 _"Are you fucking with me? You think I'm strong? Why are you trying to build me up like some superhuman that can just overcome anything? BECAUSE I'M NOT! You wanna fucking rub my failure in my face?!"_

 _"Shadow... What's going on?"_

 _"What's going on? WHAT'S GOING ON?! Oh, I'll fucking tell you... If you don't want what's coming to you... If you don't want to be the next Maria... THEN SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPP!"_

* * *

"And with that, I left the locker room, plotted my revenge against Knuckles. And ultimately... well, you figured out the truth," Shadow continued. "Tch... and to think... I bet Maria and Knuckles are looking down upon me, probably disappointed as fuck. Even after all this time... I'm not the Ultimate Lifeform like I was created to be. I'm... a failure. Thanks to that... I lost the two most important people in my life."

Shadow...

He was normally so aggressive and angry... But I got to know a part of him that most people didn't. I know that he had a human side to him, even if he was made in some lab. He had humanity, and even if he did kill Knuckles... he at least finally got to know what having a true friend was like.

But even then, his weakness lived in his heart and turned him cold-blooded and against others who wanted to get close to him just because he refused to have another incident like what happened with his Maria.

"Ho ho hooooooo!" Egg Robo laughed. "Look at him! You see? You're all just like him!" For a secret from the past, for a memory... For that, he killed another living being in cold blood! He couldn't cut free of his regrets from the outside world! He may be the Ultimate Lifeform, but he's not strong at all. No siree! Do you see any hope in there? Cause I sure don't!"

We were all silent.

"Silence, eh? Well, I figured you all couldn't argue with me. Thankfully, that brings me to our next part! Because the time for punishing is fast approaching!"

"Punishing?..." I asked. I was horrified, remembering just how awful Tails' 'punishment' was.

"E-Execution?!" Shadow questioned, looking unhinged.

"That's the rule, Mr. Hedgehog! The blackened that disturbed the peace will be punished!" Egg Robo said.

Shadow lowered his head and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. "So... it's come to this. I... I can't do anything anymore."

"S-Shadow! No!" Tikal cried out. "Please... Egg Robo, this isn't right!"

The robot continued to ignore her. "Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform!"

"That's enough defending me," Shadow said. "I... deserve this. It's probably a weight off of everyone's back now."

"Let's give it everything we've got! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIMEEEEEEEE!" Egg Robo screamed, laughing manically.

"Wait."

Just before Egg Robo could run up to his chair, Shadow opened his eyes. We all looked at him, wondering what he wanted.

"Charmy..."

I was now confused. Why was he talking to me?

"I know... I didn't treat you the best. I know I let my anger out on you when we first arrived here but... even though I killed Maria and Knuckles..." he then suddenly... smiled. "I'm happy... you're the only friend I made that I never killed."

Right then and there, a tear fell out from my right eye. Shadow was accepting death with open arms but... I... I got to know him like this... before he died.

I wanted to know what happened now. What about his motorcycle that he cherished? What about the Dark Chao he was separated with?

As Egg Robo ran to his seat and grabbed his mallet, I realized that none of that mattered anymore, because... Shadow was given his sentence.

The robot brought down the mallet on the button that came from the floor. The room darkened like last time and the curtains rose, revealing the same red background with an 8-bit sprite of Shadow in the middle. Words displayed as that same 'game over'-like music played from last time.

 **"GAME OVER**

 **Shadow the Hedgehog has been found guilty for the murder of Knuckles the Echidna.**

 **COMMENCING EXECUTION!"**

The sprite of Shadow was being dragged away by the same sprite of Egg Robo as the screen pixelated. Suddenly, from where Shadow was, the wall behind him shot open, and the same collar that grabbed Tails' neck grabbed Shadow's. The entire time though... he didn't resist.

* * *

 _An alarm began to blare loudly in a dark corridor as a red light flashed multiple times. A barrage of G.U.N. soldiers began to run along the hall, hunched back as they held their weapons._

 _"Find them before they escape!" yelled one of the soldiers._

 _As they continued to search for their prey, Shadow ran along a hall, trying to avoid sight. He could suddenly hear gunfire, so the hedgehog escaped into a room as the soldiers all passed by it. Thinking he was safe, Shadow suddenly heard a voice._

 _"Shadow!"_

 _He could see it was a girl wearing a blue dress._

 _"Maria!"_

 _Shadow ran up to the girl and hugged her, glad that she was okay._

 _"I'm so happy to see you, Shadow. Wouldn't it be so tragic if something happened to us?"_

 _Confused, Shadow looked up at the girl to find..._

 _The face of Egg Robo._

 _The Egg Robo-Maria pushed Shadow to the middle of the room as hundreds of G.U.N. soldiers surrounded Shadow, guns pointed at him._

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _Attack of the Killer ARK!_**

 _Suddenly, Shadow found that his feet were now locked in place. Bullets rained into Shadow's body as all the soldiers shot him, with the Egg Robo-Maria dancing in place. Shadow could only foam at the mouth as his body was penetrated with hundreds of bullets, each of them hitting every part of his body. Behind him, blood coated the floors, the walls, and even parts of the ceiling. Despite the amount of hits he was taking, Shadow wasn't going down, and once the soldiers were done, Shadow only took deep breaths and let his body go forward, blood dripping everywhere._

 _He simply shook as he watched the Egg Robo-Maria by a lever, waving goodbye as he was suddenly sealed in a capsule and shot down from space to the planet below the station he was in._

 _Finally, he landed on the planet, limping and shaking. He coughs up blood and spits it out, getting on his knees as he raised his hands upward. Looking around at his surroundings, he knew he wasn't dead, because he was the UIltimate Lifeform._

 _Before he could do anything else, suddenly, a large space station fell from the sky and landed right where Shadow was standing. The station read 'Space Colony ARK' on it._

 _As the colony burned, nothing else came from it or underneath it other than a small pool of blood..._

* * *

Egg Robo popped up in between all of our horrified looks. "Laugh at death, and your soul will forever be at peace. Isn't that such an inspirational quote?"

Tikal began to sob as she suddenly dry heaved. "S-Shadow! NO!" She covered her mouth, not wanting to look anymore.

"W-Why the fuck do you love crushing people?!" Jet questioned. "It's sick! FUCKING SICK!"

"How shameless of you to think that this is what Knuckles would have wanted, Egg Robo," Espio added.

Another murder and another execution...

I felt cold. I wanted to feel again. Our lives were taken so lightly here, as if we were so disposable. I think... I think I was going mad now. Maybe... maybe I should just let it happen. Maybe I should just kill... maybe I should just let someone kill me if it means I don't have to suffer such an awful fate.

All of us realized our fates here, but he... he just HAD to speak.

"Is this it? This is the end of the game? How disappointing," Sonic said. "I thought that faker was going to give us a challenge. Serves me right for depending on him."

Tikal, who had stopped dry heaving, got up, grit her teeth, and pushed the hedgehog. "HOW... HOW **DARE** YOU?!" she screamed. "You... you are the most TWISTED person I have met, Sonic the Hedgehog! A game?... You really want to say that after one of our friends has died?! You absolute monster!"

I could see Tikal crying as she let her anger out for the first time.

"Wow, it took you long enough to grow a backbone," Sonic got his smug look. "Unfortunately, I stopped caring about you long ago. Now, to answer your question, naturally. This game is life or death."

Vector squinted his eyes at the hedgehog. "I dun think I even have anythin' to say to yeh. I would tell yeh off, but I just need to know. Why? Why did ya go out of yer way to disguise Shadow's crime?"

"Why? Because it made things more interesting and fun. Because when your best bud is dead, your bud that means so much to you, you find out that you have no reason to live anymore. So why should I try and play nice, acting like the victim and crying my eyes out when I can have fun in my own way?"

Sonic's voice was calm and emotionless. It was almost like... I was hearing the voice of death. It chilled me to the bone.

"Last night, when the murder took place, I was in the library as usual."

Blaze scoffed. "Honestly, you ignored the nighttime rule, too?"

"I never agreed to it, so it never mattered to me."

"Well I don't care, so please continue."

"The night grew late, and I decided to return to my room. It was then that I stumbled into Shadow. He was just coming out of the girls locker room and placing the PAD on the floor. After he'd gone, I looked inside using that PAD and saw the corpse."

"S-So you actually witnessed the murder?!" Silver questioned.

"Tch, such a fool. He didn't even have the slightest idea that I'd seen him.

"So... you knew the culprit from the beginning, Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog?..." asked Big.

"Of course I did. But if that was the end of it, how boring would that have been? I mean, wouldn't it be so dull to have the answer revealed right in the beginning? Which is why I decided to lend a little helping hand. I thought it would liven things up."

"You did all of that... to liven things up?!" I questioned.

"Eugh, stop screeching. It makes my ears bleed."

"Then, I imagine hearin' 'bout Rosie the Rascal from Amy, yeh decided to use that to make the fake murder scene, right?" Vector asked.

"But damn man... if we hadn't figured out who'd really done it, doesn't that mean you would have died too?" Silver added.

"Well, I would have revealed the truth before it reached that point. Of course..."

Sonic turned to look at me straight in the eye. From his expression and what his eyes said... I saw nothing but an expression of anger and murder.

"Thanks to a certain SOMEONE, it never did. And I was able to perform an interesting experiment. Thanks to this trial, if I decide to become blackened, I now know who I'll watch out for."

He lowered his glare at me. Now, I was certain I HAD to watch my back at every corner I go.

"So, that was yer reason," Vector said.

"Are you satisfied now, croc?"

"Yes. We're done listenin' to yer story. Movin' on... Egg Robo, there's somethin' I wanna ask yeh."

"Ohh, I'm up next?" the robot asked.

"Yeh like to perform these elaborate yet specific executions, right? Tell me... why?"

"Why? Well, ho ho ho... do you like them? To answer your question, these punishments, this despair... it's not just for you. All of the punishment and despair is my gift to the world!"

"Yer overexaggeratin'."

"I am NOT! These punishments are meant to transform all hope into despair!"

"What do you mean?" Espio asked.

"Mean? Meeeean? Mean? Mean mean mean mean mean mean mean mean mean mean mean MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAN!" Golly GOSH! I don't understand why you all cherry-pick everything I say as if it all has some kind of hidden SECRET!"

"Tch, whatever. It doesn't matter," Sonic replied. "In the end, I shall be the lone victor of this game, and everything will be revealed to me. And once it is... I'll finally get my revenge for what you did to Tails!"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, so cool! It's like you're the hero of a vdeo game or something! I mean, I DO play Sonic games so maybe that IS the case! Heh, whatever! Maybe I shouldn't break the fourth wall like this!"

"Shut up! I mean it! You'll be the next one to suffer an execution like that... and Tails will be avenged!"

"Ho ho ho... temper temper! Sounds like someone needs to go into time out! Ho ho ho ho! HO HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Egg Robo's laughter bounced across the courtroom as the trial of Knuckles and Shadow came to a close. But I knew that wasn't the end. The killing game would still continue because the mastermind wouldn't let it end. For the surviving people, our worst fears multiplied and our despair only continued. I felt like even a blind Chao in hell had more of a future than us. All of our courage, friendship, and effort... it felt like it amounted to nothing at all. It was the worst kind of despair.

My only question now was... where do we go from here?

* * *

 **LATER THAT NIGHT**

Egg Robo sat in a computer chair, hundreds of screens behind him showing different parts of Green Hills.

"...well, anyway... like I was saying. We're at a pretty good spot! Yup, pretty good indeed! Not even... what... two weeks and already we're down five people? That's actually a good place to be honest! Isn't it amazing that it was Cream who started it before things even had a chance to get boring? Once things REALLY get moving, it'll be a like a rollercoaster. There won't be any stopping it! Fear and despair will only get faster from here, I guarantee it."

The mystery person Egg Robo was talking to didn't say anything.

"But... I must admit, I'm disappointed. I went to all the pain and effort of making you part of the group and yet you couldn't play your part. You DO remember you were supposed to make the first move, right? Eh, no big deal. Nothing we can do about that now. So just do your best to make things more exciting from now on, okay? After all, that's what everyone wants to see..."

The person still said nothing for a few seconds, until...

"There's one thing I want to ask."

"As long as you don't wanna know my measurements, fire away!"

"...Who is it? The eighteenth student?"

"GUAAH?! Jeez, what a surprising question! I know I said you could ask anything but... denied! I can't ANSWER that! See, that person is my ace in the hole, and I'm not dumb enough to reveal that! No matter how close they were to their... "FRIENDS"... Ho ho hoooo!"

The person still said nothing. They only left the room, leaving Egg Robo behind.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

The Ties that Bring us Together

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Sonic the Hedgehog

Amy Rose/Rosie the Rascal

Vector the Crocodile

Espio the Chameleon

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Blaze the Cat

Jet the Hawk

Wave the Swallow

Storm the Albatross

Tikal the Echidna

Big the Cat

 **Deceased**

Cream the Rabbit

Rouge the Bat

Miles 'Tails' Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **(AN: Chapter 2 comes to an end, and our second execution commences. In a heated moment of anger, Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Lifeform, murdered Knuckles the Echidna, and accepts his death realizing that all he can do is kill the ones he loves. Top that with the reveal of who exactly he is, and we get right to his execution, based on the cutscene of him escaping the Space Colony ARK from Sonic Adventure 2.**

 **As more blood is shed, the cycle only continues... I'll meet you all back here soon for Chapter 3: Green Hills Zone Act 2)**


	19. Chapter 3 (Daily Life 1)

**(AN: Sorry for the long wait, here we are with Chapter 3! Things are gonna get rolling more as we continue on with more despair... but never fear, there is hope on the way! Could it be enough to help our heroes get out of this situation? Well, if it did, we would have a short story, no?**

 **Before I forget since I got nothing new to add, thank you all so much for 1.9k views! It does mean a lot!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo sat in his judge's chair, a lone spotlight on him._

 _"Er, currently I'm sitting on a chair. But it's under me because I sat on it. Consider that my hint about what'll happen this chapter. Did you see where I was coming from? There's a few hints in these coming parts. Make sure to catch them! And now it's time for something completely different: crying girls."_

* * *

It was late at night after the trial of Knuckles and Shadow. The hallways of Green Hills were silent, and the lights were dimmed as only the sounds of the electricity being used were heard. No sound came from any room as everyone slept.

Everyone, except for one.

Tikal lay on her side, hugging her pillow as she sobbed her eyes out. She could see her sad reflection in her tiara that stood on the bedside, but didn't care.

"I-I know I shouldn't cry..." she said in between breaths. "But... H-how can't I? Poor Shadow... poor Knuckles... and Cream, and Rouge... and T-Tails... I've had enough. I can't take it anymore. Getting out of here... anytime soon... It's... I-it's impossible."

She let out a couple of more sobs. "I can't let myself think about... how much I want to get out of here. I keep t-thinking like that, I might just ki- no... no I can't!... How foolish of me to think like this!"

Tikal threw her pillow down and covered her face in her arms, letting out a few more sobs. It was then after she breathed in that she looked up at the wall, then at the door.

"...sugar cookies."

She got up from her bed and looked for her shoes.

"That's right... sugar cookies always made me feel good. Grandma always made the best sugar cookies, and whenever father would berate me for anything I did, or the bullying at school would get too much, grandma always had a fresh batch waiting to cheer me up. I just wish I had some of her homemade ones..."

Finding her shoes and putting them on, Tikal grabbed her prayer beads and left her room as she held her hands together and then let a tear roll from her eye. "I'm sorry... Please, everyone... forgive me for breaking the nighttime rule. But right now... cookies are more important."

Sneaking off to the warehouse, it didn't take long for the girl to find a bag of sugar cookies. With the bag in hand, Tikal left the warehouse and already had one in her mouth when she suddenly heard a whirring noise just before she could go back to her room.

"Huh? What was that?"

She stopped and looked around, only hearing it again as she stood silent. The girl got nervous... was she the next one to die after being lured by this strange sound?

"No... I can't think that," she shook her head. "It sounds like it's coming from the bathhouse. Who'd actually be there this late at night? I'm scared but... as long as I run away as fast as I can, then I'm sure nothing will happen to me."

Tikal creeped towards the bathhouse, poking her head slowly inside as she held the bag of cookies closer to her. "Is... Is someone there?"

She stopped when she noticed a light coming from an open locker. Creeping as slowly as she could, Tikal reached the locker to find... a green floating... object in the locker. And upon seeing it, she dropped the bag of cookies and screamed loudly.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents...**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

 **Despair Hill Zone Act 2**

* * *

 **Daily Life**

It was the morning after the second class trial. We all met up at the dining hall... well, actually no, all was an understatement. The Babylon Rogues weren't there, neither were Amy and Sonic. Tikal also strangely enough wasn't there either. But the most obvious two who were missing... Knuckles and Shadow...

"Man... our numbers are really so low here, aren't they?" Silver bemoaned. "Nobody really did come."

"I'm worried about Ms. Tikal the Echidna... she's always here..." Big said.

"I talked with her and she told me she wasn't feeling too well, and would like to take the day to rest up," Espio replied. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"That's unusual of her. She's always happy go lucky in the mornings. As is Amy too. I wonder if she's ashamed at having her secret revealed?" Blaze added.

"I think that makes me worry more than it should."

"So, this is me, Espio, Charmy, Silver, Big, and Blaze... man, Silvz, yeh weren't kiddin'," Vector said.

"I'm just hoping things go back to the way they were. You know, when we all worked together," I added.

"Well, now that Knuckles is dead... what the hell are we gonna do about a leader?" Silver asked. "We can't do much with a dead leader, can't we?"

"So what's gonna happen now?..." asked Big. "We don't have a way out, and we don't know if help is gonna come... I feel sad thinking about it..."

"No need to fret, Big. We simply have to make the best of things. You know, do our best to get along and live here together in peace. Forget about the outside world, let's all just accept that this is our new life," Blaze replied. "It's the only hope we have now."

"To live here forever?" I asked. "Are you delusional?"

"I should be asking you that some question too. We have every convenience. Food, clothes, water, etc! Our every need is seen to, so why are you dissatisfied? In fact, let me get a little deeper. What is it about the outside world that you long for? Competition, discrimination, victimization, violence? As society grows, so does its perversion. In this case, our current situation not-"

Blaze was suddenly interrupted by Big.

"Froggy."

"Huh?"

"My pet frog, Froggy... he must be all alone and hungry... I haven't gotten the chance to feed him at all. Is he doing okay?"

"The mastermind puts such base desires to their advantage, bending you to their will. The fact that you care about, of all things, a frog is... actually, I'd rather not finish that sentence."

"Well... back to what I was saying," Silver added. "I think I should be allowed to take the lead! Since no one else wants the role, I'd be more than happy to be your leader!"

Oh Gaia, help us now. If Silver is now our leader, that's how we know we're doomed.

"Well, as your new leader, I declare that we begin searching around for new clues!"

"Wait, searching? We already looted the first and second floor for everything!" I asked.

"Yes, but I'm talking about the new floor! Don't you remember? Anytime we have a class trial that finished..."

"...there's a new area to explore, no?" Espio added.

"Correct! And maybe we'll find a clue for reals this time!"

"Then let us eat some breakfast. We need as much energy as we can get if we have to explore the new floor. Blaze, do you have any complaints?"

Blaze smiled. "None at all. There very well may be a discovery waiting for us that certainly will further enrich our life here."

"I thought we were looking for clues, Ms. Blaze the Cat..." Big replied.

I could see Vector smile as he took a drink from his mug. Just as we were about to get started on breakfast and head out... SHE appeared.

"OHHHHH, WHAT'S THIS?!" Rosie said, holding up her hammer. "It's breakfast time and Rosie isn't here?! What a shame! Well, you called for me and so I appear! Rosie the-"

"Uwah!" Big cried out. "W-We didn't do such a thing!"

"H-Huh?" Silver questioned. "Hey, how come Rosie's here and not Amy?"

Ignoring him, Rosie continued. "GAWSHHHH, this place is so amazing! Finally, a place where I can just be my murderous self! Everything a girl could ask for! That's why I'm gonna stop holding back!~ No more Ms. Nice Rosie-the-Rascal! Plus, I have another battle to fight! I wanna get rid of the dumb stereotype that people with murderous split personalities can't be lovely people! I mean, I think it's completely offensive to killers like me! So, starting today, I'm gonna break so many boundaries and hopefully stop the stigmatization of mental illness in fiction! Oh, but before that... I have another battle before my quest for complete acceptance! And that's to win the heart of my Darling Sonikku! Both literally AND figuratively!"

"W-Well... good luck I guess? I mean, it is a good cause, right? People should be treated equal."

"Come on guysssss! Don't you agree with what I'm doing?! I mean, weed leaf over there gets me! Even the biggest stars need the little people to hold them up! KYEHAHAHAHAAAA!"

"It's good that you have... high energy, Rosie," Espio said. "However, I'm sure you'd care for some breakfast first. I do assume you have a diet that doesn't consist of blood?"

"Oh, now there's the stereotyping I'm talking about! What, because I'm a killer that also means I'm a cannibal?! No! I'll have you know that I love a lot of things! For example, strawberries remind me of..."

And she went on for about five minutes listing her favorite foods...

With that, we had to eat breakfast with Rosie who was... rather disruptive. Hopefully, there's no fancy dinner we all have to attend to soon, otherwise she might just be the worst house guest ever. Once we were done, we got started looking around the zone. Tikal hadn't come out of her room, and as for Sonic... well, forget about him. The Babylon Rogues were up though, and when we had left, they were just getting their own breakfast. We made our way back to the second floor, and to the stairs to the third floor that was previously being blocked by a gate. When we all arrived, we looked around at the purple lighted hallways as everyone split off to look for clues.

"Jeez, where do I start?" I questioned, looking at the purple walls around me.

Turning left from the stairs, I made my way to the first door on my right and went through. When I did, I noticed a large amount of games: pool, darts, Othello, go, and even a slot machine. Blaze was standing over a pool table, looking at it.

"Ah, Charmy. I assume you came here to look at the rec room?" Blaze turned around and said to me once she saw me.

"M-Man, my old zones never had a place like this," I said.

"No normal zone would. Just look at all these games. I also saw shogi, mahjong, mancala, just to name a few. And, look at this."

Blaze pointed over to the corner, which had a magazine rack on it.

"Look, they even provided us with months of reading material. Isn't it wonderful? Certainly, they'll be helpful in keeping our boredom low."

Suddenly, Egg Robo popped into the room.

"Listen upppp!"

I groaned. "For Gaia's sake, can I just have one day where you don't torment my life?"

"Can I have a day where you SHUT UP?! Gosh, I just came in to say hi and you're already being so rude! Is THAT how you treat your headmaster! Well, now that just tells me the type of student you are. You're... the type of person who never listens to what anyone says and causes teachers to have a breakdown!"

I... I was nowhere near like that type of person, but whatever let Egg Robo sleep at night...

"Well, besides that, let me explain what I actually came here to do! I wanna expand on what we have here in the rec room! We've got different kinds of games, and as for the magazines, anything your heart desires! From fashion, to video games, martial arts, sports, science, technology, all kinds of them! Oh, but don't expect something dirty! This is a zone after all! If you REALLY want a quick fix, we have swimsuit magazines and issues of 'Mobius' Men' right there!"

"D-Did you really have to emphasize that?!" I questioned. "You're being gross again!"

"And you're being a prude."

"Egg Robo..." Blaze said, interrupting. "Will you be adding to our collection of magazines as new issues come out?"

"Sorry, no can do! Even if I wanted to, magazines are kinda... KINDA SORTA..."

"Kinda sorta what?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oops! Nothing nothing, never mind! You didn't hear a word for me! Anywaythat'sitfortherecroomIhopeyouenjoyitbye!"

With that, Egg Robo left the room as fast as he could. Blaze simply looked confused.

"What he just said..." she muttered.

I nodded. "Yeah, it bothers me too. What did he mean by 'kinda sorta'?"

"You know, life would be a little nicer if we got new publications each month. How disappointing..."

That's what you care about? Well, more power to you, I guess.

"Well, there is nothing to be done. It's unfortunate about the magazines, but I think our lives will improve just by a little bit thanks to this little hideaway."

With that, Blaze walked off to the magazine rack as I examined some of the board games. Most of them I was pretty bad at, or I never really played at all, so I wasn't too interested. I was, although, confused about why a pool table was in here now that I got the chance to look at it closer. This is definitely something you wouldn't find in a zone. Did the zone buy it, or was this thanks to Egg Robo?

As I scanned the right side of the room, I passed by the magazine rack, and a shelf with... bottles on it. Looking closer... I could see a little Egg Robo figure in the glass. I didn't know how it got in there, and nor did I really even care to be honest. After that was a lone locker in the corner. It didn't seem so important... so I left it alone for now.

With nothing else left to explore, I left the rec room and decided to keep on with my stretch of looking around on the third floor. From the rec room, I headed right and down the hall, where I saw Vector examining the walls.

"Oh, Vector, hi!" I said when I noticed him.

"It's you, Charmy..." he replied. "So, it looks like the third floor is open now. After a brief investigation, I also found a physics lab and an art room. Weirdly enough... in the lab, there was this giant machine there. I dunno what it does though. Since I'm still tryin' to investigate, I kinda wanna be left alone for a bit. I hope ya do understand."

Well, at LEAST he was a little nicer this time than before. Nodding, I left him alone for the time being, knowing that those two places were in my next best interest to check out. As I buzzed down the hall, I noticed that the lights of the hall changed from purple to teal.

"Man, can no one in this zone just stick to a color?" I said, remembering the dull colors all the walls had in my old zones. As I reached the middle of the teal hall, there was a large room without a door to my left. Thinking this must be a place of interest, I buzzed inside to find various statues, easels, chairs, and shelves full of art supplies and books.

 _"So, is this is the art room?"_ I thought to myself. _"Something seems off... a little TOO off."_

I didn't know how to describe it, so I thought exploring would help. I noticed Big sitting in a chair, just looking at the statue in the front of the room.

"Oh, hello Mr. Charmy Bee," Big said, not turning around to face me. I won't lie, I freaked out cause I didn't think he noticed me.

"J-Jeez, don't scare me like that, Big! H-How did you even know it was me?"

"I heard your wings... You're the only one who has them..."

Well... I guess that made enough sense.

"I-I didn't actually know you had an interest in art, Big. I thought you only liked to fish."

"When I used to live in my hut, I used to make clay statues with Froggy... I would lay them around my hut, and they would be the thing that would make sure the day was perfect for fishing..."

"That sounds cool! I guess... maybe you could find some clay and make some more statues here! Like, as a way to pray that we can get out of here?"

"The clay is all dried up... Egg Robo said that he'll make me some new clay, but that I'll have to wait..."

"I-I see... well, I'm sure you'll have fun!"

With that, I left him alone to... whatever he was doing and went on to explore the room. The easels all had still life drawings of the statue in the front of the room, and as for all the art supplies, they were all neatly organized on the shelves or by the sink to the right side of the classroom. As I turned on the sink, I looked to my left and noticed a door there. I hadn't seen it before but... I wonder where it lead?

Turning off the sink, I buzzed to the door and opened it, finding that it was a repository of more art supplies. There were hammers, chisels, wrenches, old sketchbooks, even a clay kiln in the corner of the room to name a few.

As I was about to examine a kiln, something caught my eye.

It was on the floor by a bunch of mops and brooms, so I went over and grabbed it. When I examined the picture... my heart stopped.

I saw Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails, all of whom were smiling. Shadow and Knuckles were hugging, with the two in nothing more than a tank top (at least from what I could tell since the image was cut off from the waist up), while Tails was in more of a zone uniform, looking embarrassed while being in the middle of the two.

"What the?..." I questioned. "When was this taken?"

Questions just flew through my head. Why was it only these three? What are they doing? How come they're smiling and everything looks okay? Who took this? Where's the camera that took this? How did this get developed?

Most importantly though...

I noticed that the windows in the classroom were perfectly normal, not covered up with any kind of metal sheet.

Still holding the picture, I wondered what to do. Big was in the next room over, but he wouldn't know. Vector though, was down the hall. Maybe he could figure out a clue or two? It didn't explain the picture though. I mean, IF by some chance this picture really was taken and not fabricated, then... how long ago was this taken? How was it that Shadow and Knuckles were acting like friends, yet when they arrived here, they weren't on the best terms until they eventually became friends for about a day?

Most importantly, WHERE could this have been taken? If there were no sheets over the windows, this couldn't be Green Hills.

I shook my head, I had to show this to Vector. But before I could leave the room, Egg Robo popped up in between me and the door.

"Argh!" he yelled. "That's mine! Give it back!"

Egg Robo snatched the picture out of my hand, giving me a papercut in the process. I yelped and held my now bleeding hand, to which the robot threw a bandage at me in return.

"There! Call this a fair trade! You give me that picture and I help you out! Well, I guess that doesn't erase what you saw, now does it? So, you peeked, didn't you? Aren't their smiles just charming? Especially Knuckles! He has such white teeth for someone who lived alone on an island for all their life! I wonder if they have special toothpaste where he lives! They were definitely living their zone life to the best! If you ripped a page out from the book of youth, you'd find their picture in it!"

"Hey, tell me the truth! What's going on with that picture?" I asked.

"I ain't tellin' you nothin'!"

With that, Egg Robo left, leaving behind an angry... well, me.

"Why can't you give me a straight answer?!" I yelled. Closing my eyes, I huffed, wondering why I even bothered trying to question him. "Might as well explore the rest of this room."

The first thing I noticed was the rack of mallets and wrenches hanging on the wall. If I had to guess, this was made for sculpture making but... why would you need a wrench of all things?

I also saw a dolly by the top right corner of the room. I imagine it was used to move the statues but... the only thing I was reminded of was using these things in P.E. during primary zone. Honestly though... taking carpet burn sounds more enjoyable than anything this 'killing game' would ever offer.

With nothing else, and still annoyed with what Egg Robo said, I left the art studio, wondering where to explore next. I knew that Vector had mentioned the physics lab, so perhaps this was where I needed to explore next. Buzzing down the hall from the art studio, once again, I headed down the hall lead to the lights changing to a gray color.

At least it was relevant to how depressing this place was...

After going through various turns, I ended up at a door that looked more like those fancy elevator doors you'd find in sci-fi movies. Entering inside, I saw a large amount of machinery in every corner of the room. And in the middle of all the machines was... him.

Sonic looked at the machine in the middle of the room, arms crossed.

"Oh, Sonic. I didn't think I'd see you at all today. W-What is this place?"

Sonic sneered at me. "You absolute idiot. Didn't you know this was the physics lab? Oh wait, I'm talking to you. Of course you wouldn't know."

Back to being a dick? Guess that hasn't changed about him.

Still though, this didn't look like a classroom. This looked more like a research institute. And... I also looked at the machine in the middle, which perplexed me more than the room itself. Just... what even WAS this?

My question was answered when Egg Robo suddenly popped into the room to torment my life again.

"Oh, watch out, Charmy!" he said.

"W-What?"

"You wanna do some quantum leaping? I'll warn you: once you do that, you'll become the most ridiculously overpowered person here with your ability to stay in the air!"

"What are you talking about?"

"See, that's a time machine! Pretty awesome, no? It was designed by a former student of Green Hills! If I'm not mistaken, it was the Ultimate Scientist that did that? Too bad they're dead!"

I could suddenly see the anger and annoyance in Sonic's eyes suddenly change to that of hope and desire. "A-A... a time machine?"

I was surprised myself. Sonic's voice was a lot softer.

"Seriously? Egg Robo? I can go back in time?"

Sonic ran up to the robot and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Please... please start it up! If I can go back in time..."

Suddenly, he began to cry. "T-Then I can stop Tails from killing Cream and save him from his execution!"

"Oh, sorry Mr. Sonic, it's not possible! You see, this time machine only goes back one minute! It comes in handy when you... uh... leave your pizza rolls in the microwave for one minute long, or when the five second rule doesn't apply if you drop some of your favorite chips on the floor. It's not that useless like you think!"

"One... one MINUTE?!"

"Huh? Oh, you sound disappointed! But actually, I was lying about the whole thing! Ho ho ho! There's no such thing as time machines!"

"What..." I could hear both the anger and sadness in Sonic's voice now.

"It's just an air purifier!"

"Air purifier?" I asked. "That looks like that?"

"It can produce clean air no matter where you _air!_ Get it? With that thing, you could live on the moon! At least, not the damaged side of course! But wouldn't it suck on the moon when you have no food and you're forced to eat moon rocks? ANYWAYYYY, this machine is why you have all of this clean, delicious air! Just take a deep breath..."

Egg Robo did just that. "...and let it allll out. See? Wasn't that just refreshing? So don't go breaking it! Or you die!"

Bouncing away, I could see the look in Sonic's eye. He was breathing heavily and gritting his teeth. When we locked eyes, he shoved me aside.

"Think you can be all happy and smiles, eh?! Go die, you pathetic tripe," he said as he walked out of the room. While I was hurt by the insult... to go out of your way to say something you know will hurt someone who's already suffering... I wouldn't lie: I felt bad for Sonic in a weird way.

I knew it was no time for daydreaming and decided to look around. My first discovery was on the other side of the air purifier, where sitting on a table was a green camera.

"Huh? Whose camera is this?" I asked, buzzing towards. "It looks a little beat up, but I wonder if it turns on?"

Looking for the power switch, I found it on the top of the camera, pressed the button and... somehow, it turned on. I was a bit surprised, but wanted to make sure it really DID work. So, buzzing back a bit from where I was, I snapped a picture of the air purifier and was able to look at it in the gallery.

"Ah, that's great! Maybe I should show this to the others."

Placing the camera in my coat pocket, I decided I should head next to the door nearby where the camera was. Turning the knob, I found that it was a storage room with various shelves and boxes with different kinds of objects in them. Aside from the strong odor of chemicals, more importantly, I saw... Rosie standing by one of the shelves.

"AHHAAAAAAAH!" I heard her say when she turned her head to face me, her eyes somehow locked onto me. "This place is not only so relaxing but also calming! It's like I could write a thousand page autobiography here! The smell of formaldehyde is so good! I wonder why every meal can't have that as its smell? I'M GETTING SERIOUSLY EXCITED! Hey hey, Chimcharm, can you make a pool full of formaldehyde so I can dunk myself in it? We can have a pool party too and invite everyone else!"

I wish I had the chance to process all that she said because I was lost once she got to 'formaldehyde'. Then again, was it surprising that Rosie liked the smell of this stuff? So much for wanting to be a progressive leader for serial killer causes...

"W-Well, have you even used the stuff?"

"What do I look like to you, amateur serial killer number 46? Of course I use it! But sometimes it smells so good, I don't wanna use it on cute boys! I wanna smell it all for myself! You know, that dumb Amy loves her scented candles or fruit smelling air freshener bullshit, but if you gave me a chloroform scented candle, you'd make me the happiest girl in the world and I might not even have a reason to kill you because you were so nice!"

"I... guess you're right?"

At this point, I think I really did want to leave the room. I didn't mind that she had her 'hobbies', but I'm sure you could understand that if someone told you that they would sniff chloroform and formaldehyde during a conversation. There also wasn't much of notice in the room, so I left as Rosie soon began to uncap bottles of chemicals.

As I left, I scratched my chin. "Hmm... I did my share of exploring, some of it was strange but... was it a clue?"

I mean, besides that picture of course. I still wish I could ask Vector about that. I know he could get to the bottom of that, but alas, Egg Robo just had to take it from my hand. Maybe I should head to the dining hall and talk about it with everyone else. I wonder what they'd have to say about that?

With that, I left the physics lab and headed down all the stairs back to the first floor and back to the dining hall. When I did though, I spotted someone that I didn't see all day today: Tikal.

"Ah!" she said, alarmed.

"Tikal! There you are!" I said, buzzing up to her. "Are you okay? Espio said you were sick and decided to spent the day relaxing."

Before she could reply, I could hear footsteps enter the dining hall.

"Ah, glad to see you're awake, Tikal," Espio said.

"Weren't you sick?" Silver asked.

Everyone rushed past me and crowded around her. I could see Tikal look a little overwhelmed by the amount of attention she was receiving.

"Yeh feelin' better already?" Vector asked.

"Y-Yes... of course. I just had some tea, which helped me feel a little bit better," Tikal replied.

"Ah yes, tea is always good to help out when you're sick. Just make sure it didn't have sugar in it. I think that's the last thing you need when you're ill," Blaze added.

"That's besides the point, it makes me happy that you're okay, Tikal!" I said. She smiled.

"Does it? Oh, thank you, Charmy. You're far too kind. I apologize if I made you worry at all."

Suddenly, as if to ruin the moment, Rosie got in-between us.

"JEEEEEZ, you're as flat as a board! No wonder you got sick so easily! You don't have enough heat in your body! Looking like that, I think you and Wavey could compete!" she said.

"Are you asking to die?!" Wave replied angrily.

Tikal covered her chest, looking very shy. "P-Please... that's... that's far too inappropriate!"

"That's enough talk about women's... uhh, jugs," Silver said. "Importantly, we need to talk about what we found!"

There were a lot of people here I could ask, so I figured I'd start with Tikal.

"I'm sorry if I wasn't able to help much. I only woke up not too long ago but I did find something. Egg Robo told me that I could find stomach medicine on the first floor, and that's where I found out the nurse's office is actually open," she said.

"Really?" Espio asked. "Wasn't that originally sealed up with some kind of police tape?"

"It was, but Egg Robo told me that it was also open alongside the third floor. It's your average medical equipment and medication. Cough medicine, antacid tablets, ibuprofen and aspirin, just to name a few. It did help out but... having a nurse's office doesn't really help our situation, does it?"

I shook my head. "At least things won't be too bad if we get sick or hurt. Hopefully there's stuff like gauzes in case someone gets attacked. Silver, what about you?"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" he replied. "Just a little while ago, I saw Sonic."

Rosie got excited. "W-W-What?! WHERE... WHERE IS MY DARLING SONIKKU?!"

"Jeez, no need to cream your pants!"

She held her hammer up high as she crept closer and closer to Silver, her tongue licking her lips. "You better tell me... WHERE. IS. HE."

"L-L-Locker room!..."

Rosie ruffled her head and shook her whole body. "If my Darling Sonikku thinks he can just hide from me, he has another thing coming! I won't let him get away this time! We still have to plan our dance of blood!"

She quickly bolted out of the room as fast as she could. I could see clothes breeze for a little bit as she left a trail.

"So uh... what is a dance of blood?" Jet asked.

"She's probably on the highballs again, boss! Don't let her get to you!" Storm replied.

"We shouldn't concern ourselves with her. Who would like to talk about what they found next?" Blaze asked.

"I will," replied Vector. "There was a huge physics lab all by itself in the corner of the third floor. There was also a huge machine there. Ain't never seen anythin' like it before..."

"Egg Robo told me about that," I said. "He said it was an air purifier. He actually fooled Sonic into believing that it was a time machine and he thought he could use it to stop Tails. Poor guy was crushed when that damn egg told him the truth. I actually felt a little bad for him there."

"Eh, don't concern yourself with him. What would that really solve if he really could go back in time? Then Cream would be the one to die," Wave replied. I did feel angry that Cream was being brought up so lightly when that would be true but... at the end of the day, someone would still have to die.

"Seeing as how the air feels very tense, I shall go on from here," Espio said. "I searched the classrooms, but of course, the windows were blocked just like the others. I was hoping that maybe we could find something different, but it seems wishful thinking has overcome me more than anything."

"Man, I wish they could let us see the sky!" Silver bemoaned. "I'm tired of all these technicolor hallways!"

"Just forget about it," Blaze smiled.

"You make it sound like I dropped a ring or something!"

"Well, since I'm talking now, I suppose I should talk about what I found. We DO have a little bit of entertainment in the rec room. There's quite a lot of games and reading material there for if we get bored. I think our life here will be more enjoyable because of it. I'm always down for a game of shogi. I played it a lot growing up, and I'll have you know I did qualify for a championship... even if I lost the semi-finals..."

"No thanks, games like that bore," Jet said, yawning.

"That's not a problem. Games like those are far too complex for people with overinflated egos such as yourself."

I could see Storm smile, trying his best not to let out a chuckle.

"Well uh... I found something..." Big said. "There's an art room there too... it has a lot of art things..."

"That's why it's called an art room, Big," Espio replied, sounding a little unamused.

"Other than that, I spent my time there... I wanted to make things out of clay, but Egg Robo was out... Still though, there wasn't anything interesting except a statue of him..."

I didn't even REALIZE there was a statue but thinking about that... actually no, I think it's better that I continue to pretend such a thing doesn't exist.

"I suppose we're talking about what we found?" Wave asked. "We didn't really find much since everyone was exploring. Just some backrooms to the art studio and the physics lab. There's a lot of equipment in those rooms."

"Even some dangerous ones!" Storm said. "We better store them so someone doesn't kill!"

"Eh, it'll be fine. If someone dies here, it'll be easy to find the weapon!" Jet said. "But yeah, that's kind of about it from us-"

Suddenly, Jet stopped.

"Hey, bee! What's that in your pocket?"

"My... pocket?" I asked.

Jet got up and pointed at the camera in my front coat pocket.

"Oh, this? Yeah, I found it on a table in the physics lab. Dunno who this belongs to but... it works."

"That's mine!"

"Huh? No it isn't."

"Did you check under the thing you idiot?"

Doing what he said, I flipped the camera around to find three initials etched into the camera: J.T.H.

"Huh, I guess it is yours. I thought you were trying to steal it."

Jet sneered and snatched the camera out of my hands. "Very funny, still think I'm a thief?"

"No, after all, it looks really cheap for someone like you to own."

I heard an 'oooh' from Silver as I could see Jet bite the bottom of his beak, trying hard not to rage at me.

"I-I'll have you know this isn't cheap! It... it just doesn't have a timer, that's all!"

"Speaking of which..." Blaze said. "Why would the camera be in the physics lab? Weren't our personal belongings lost when we came here on the first day?"

"Y-Yeah, that's right!" Tikal added. "I remember losing my PDA, and remember hearing Amy and Rouge say that they couldn't find their phones either. Why would Jet's camera be the only thing to reappear?"

"I dunno!" Jet shrugged. "What I do know is that of course someone like me would get their own things back!... even if my phone is also a lost cause."

Jet sat back down and messed with the camera, and only five seconds later...

"Hey! My pictures are gone!"

"What do you mean?" Wave asked.

"I took pictures before coming here, I just know it! So why the hell is everything on this erased?!"

It was just then that I thought back to the picture I saw in the repository of the art studio.

"I just remembered!"

Everyone turned to look at me. "There's something that's bothering me. It has to do with that thing I found in the repository of the art studio."

"What is it?" Vector asked.

"I meant to show it to you, Vector... it was this weird picture that Egg Robo swiped from me when I tried to do so."

"Weird picture that has to do with Egg Robo?" Tikal asked. "It... wasn't anything foul, was it?"

"Foul in a weird way... the picture... it depicted Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails all together!"

Silver, Tikal, Jet, Storm, Vector, and Espio all got up.

"What? Those three?!" Vector muttered.

"Yeah, and they were all smiling and joyful."

"When could that have happened? Shadow and Knuckles only became buddy-buddy after Tails died!" Storm added.

"That's the issue. In the picture... the windows weren't covered by metal sheets."

Now it was Wave's turn to get up. "What do you mean, shorty?! They were happy and there were no windows... this sounds like nothing more than a ruse. I already know without a fact that there's nothing here that can unscrew those bolts or at least make an opening through the metal sheets."

"It could be that the picture wasn't taken here," Espio said.

"Plus, we all didn't know about each other before coming to this zone," Blaze added.

"Do you think Egg Robo is lying, Mr. Charmy Bee?..." Big asked.

"That's just it..." I responded. "When I grabbed the picture, Egg Robo swiped the picture from my hands as if he didn't want me to see it."

"So... it couldn't have been taken before or after we got here..." Tikal said. "This makes no sense! Maybe Big is right, Charmy. Maybe Egg Robo is just fooling us to make us believe some lie..."

"I bet they're still alive! They left the zone and then took that picture!" Silver said. We all just looked at him before shaking my head.

"Silver... you saw them. Knuckles' body... and Tails and Shadow's execution... you can't fake those kinds of deaths. They're all dead, murdered or executed. And they're not the only ones too... Egg Robo killed Rouge with the spikes. And then there's... Cream."

I wanted to shed a tear just then, but I held it in. "That's beside the point. We have to figure out when that picture was taken.

"I still believe that Egg Robo forged it. I mean, how ironic that three of the people who died here in this zone are somehow in a picture," Blaze replied.

But was that all there is to it?

"Whatever, man!" Silver said. "We shouldn't let that distract us."

"He's right. And on that note... I'd like us to discuss something else. It's about Tikal."

The echidna girl jumped. "H-Huh?"

"You said you've been feeling ill all day. But I don't believe you. Tell me, what REALLY happened?"

I could see Tikal take a few steps back, crossing her arms.

"It varies from person to person, but even the most pokerfaced of people can show that they're lying. With the way you're acting right now, well... let's just say that it's very obvious you're lying. You seem far too goodhearted to lie, so that's why you're doing a poor job of doing so."

"Tikal, please be honest. Were you lying about being ill?" Espio asked.

She looked down on the floor, not wanting to face anyone.

"Answer the question, girl!" Jet yelled.

"Y-Y-Yes... yes I am," she said, scared.

"Why would you lie?" Espio continued.

"Didja do anythin'?" Vector added.

"N-No! Of course not!" she retorted. "I... there's a reason for it."

A reason?

"It... something happened last night. If I told you the truth, you wouldn't believe me."

"The truth?" I asked.

"...I saw IT."

"It?"

"It was... some kind of thing... I don't know how to describe it. The only thing I know was that it was green and it was floating."

"Green and floatin'?..." Vector said to himself. "Was that the only detail ya saw?"

"Yeah... I... I screamed when I saw it. I know, it seems very out of the left field. B-But you must believe me! I saw it!"

"It would help to know a little bit more about this thing but... I trust in you, Tikal," Espio replied.

"As do I," Vector added. "Tell us a little bit more 'bout what happened last night."

"O-Okay..." Tikal began. "It all started last night when I was trying to get to bed. I... couldn't sleep though. I just kept thinking about everyone who died here and I just couldn't stop crying. I decided to get the only thing that could cheer me up when I was this upset: sugar cookies."

"Honestly, you all have the weirdest things to be attached to..." Blaze said. "Least we mention how you ignored the rule regarding nighttime."

"I know, I know! I didn't want to, and I felt really bad breaking the rule too. It's just... if I didn't have my comfort food, I probably wouldn't have slept that night. Anyway, speaking of that... so, after I got my cookies from the warehouse, I went to go back as quickly as I could. But then... I heard a strange noise from the bathhouse. It almost sounded like some kind of machine whirring. So, I investigated and what I found... was a locker that was open with the... oddest yet the creepiest thing I've ever seen. It was just a... circle with a line in the middle, nothing else!"

We all looked at her confused.

"How is that scary?" Silver asked.

"I don't know what it was, or why it was on the screen or HOW it could be making all of that noise but... whatever it was, that wasn't human."

"How can that be?" Blaze asked. "You can't deduct that by just looking in a monitor. Next you'll be saying it's a ghost."

"Then, why don't we explore together?" Espio said.

"Hm?"

"You heard me. Perhaps we should go to the bathhouse and investigate further on whatever Tikal saw."

"It's a waste of time."

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Even so... it's worth a shot, no?" I asked. "If we don't find anything, then we'll call it off... and I personally promise I'll make you a milk tea just like how you like it."

Blaze smiled at this. "Ah, you see this Big? This is how a proper servant should be. Perhaps I should fire and replace you with Charmy instead."

"I wasn't even hired at all..." the cat complained.

"C'mon, let's go check out the thing Tikal saw," Jet said. "Anything to get away from this crappy killing game!"

* * *

And so, we all stood around the lockers on the right side of the bathhouse, staring at the thing that frightened Tikal. Sure enough, it was a laptop.

"It's off though," Wave said.

"I know it's off! It was turned on when I came in here," Tikal argued back. "Let's just hope it has enough battery to last us. I don't think there's a charger anywhere."

"Man, and I thought it was gonna be a ghost!" Storm complained. "You got me scared for nothing!"

"Hold on..." Vector said. "Ain't this from the library?"

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"Doncha remember, Charmy? We found this in the library when we were investigating it for the first time."

"Oh right, that! Yeah, we couldn't get it to turn on at all. I wonder what happened to it? How did it get back to working again?"

"It didn't look like it was damaged anywhere."

As Vector pulled out the laptop, he noticed something behind it. Looking deeper into the locker, there was a sticky note and... the laptop's charger. The sticky note said:

 _"Thank goodness this was found! The laptop wasn't working before, but that's because it had no battery!"_

"Who put this here?" Vector asked himself.

"Well, let's start it up and see. Let's see if the 'circle with the line on it' is exactly what Tikal described it as," Blaze said.

The crocodile sat down on one of the benches and turned the laptop on.

"I think the biggest question is, who put the laptop here in general?" I asked.

"Someone musta hid this thing," Vector replied.

"If that's the case, we found it a little too easy, don't you think?" Silver asked.

"Yer right 'bout that. But... I dun think they were tryin' to hide it from us, but more so... HIM."

"Him?"

"Didn't ya notice somethin' 'bout this room? It ain't got cameras in them. This is the one spot where the mastermind is blind."

We looked around the room, looking at every part of the ceiling and... he was right. There was not only no cameras, but no monitors as well. Just then, the laptop finished booting and the desktop was displayed. The first thing I noticed was that the background was orange and yellow, complete with some kind of flame pattern.

"Who would have a desktop like this?" I asked.

Just then, command prompt windows began popping up across the screen. One came up, and then a duo, and then it was until the screen filled up with them. When it was done however...

The screen changed and turned black, and then text appeared on screen:

 _ADVANCED MACHINE, ARTIFICAL A.I. "Ditz"_

 _v.1.14_

 _Code written by Miles Prower. If caught stealing the source code, I have my lawyers!_

 _"H-Huh?!"_ I thought to myself. What... was this? Advanced machine? Artificial A.I.? That just so happens to have a name too? And most important... the code was written by... Tails?

Just then, the text disappeared, and the circle that Tikal mentioned with a green and red line through it popped up in the middle of the screen. Suddenly, it began to speak in a soft voice.

 _"Welcome back, Mr. Tails. It's been quite some time."_

Vector opened his eyes a little wider as some of us took a step or two back, taken off guard by how this... thing just talked to us.

"OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! IT IS A GHOST!" Silver freaked out.

"I thought ya didn't believe Tikal though," Vector replied. "And besides, now ya wanna tell us you're freaked out by ghosts?"

"I just... I DUNNO WHAT THAT IS!"

"You moron, it's clearly not a ghost!" Jet said. "What made you even came up with that idea?!"

Suddenly, the lines over the circle began to bounce up and down with each time "Ditz" talked.

 _"I am Ditz. The future representative for advanced A.I. seen all across Mobius. My creator, Miles Prower, also known as Mr. Tails, has been taking steps to provide to Mobius' future. I may not be the world's most perfect program, but I was designed by Mr. Tails to learn from previous failures so that I can continue to evolve into your society."_

"So... Tails really did design this," I said. "B-But how could he? He was the Ultimate Sidekick! Making an A.I like this..."

"...seems out of the left field, no?" Vector replied.

"Y-Yeah... I mean, when I was reading up about you all, I heard that Tails was very smart when it came to engineering. No doubt, programming was something he could do as well."

"But now this begs a new question," Blaze said. "How long has Tails hidden this?"

"Well we found it in the library, but it wasn't working, remember? How did Egg Robo not already confiscate it?"

"Perhaps he believed that it was broken like the note said. After all, it's not like Tails came back to life and placed it in here."

"Well, let's keep questionin' it," Vector said before typing, _"What do you know about what's going on?"_

 _"My apologizes. Mr. Tails has only given me a brief rundown as to what has happened. From what I understand... things are very grave and that he found himself in a situation that he's frightened about."_ Ditz replied. Vector once again typed another question, this time being, _"Why are you here?"_

 _"Ah yes, I can explain that. Mr. Tails had my program on a flash drive that somehow wasn't taken away by the one he calls the mastermind. He found this laptop and placed my program into this for the sole purpose of analyzing all the files on it. This laptop has a 128 GB hard drive, and approximately 56 of those 128 gigabytes are used. The files on here may be related to this zone, but contains various amounts of crypto-protection. They're well-guarded too, and I believe that this is likely because the last user of this laptop wanted to make sure no one got in. I was able to decrypt some of the files, but unfortunately, this laptop ran out of battery before I could do anything. I also was unable to tell who moved me around, as the last thing I remember was being in Mr. Tails' room. Thanks to you all, I'm able to continue my decryption and hopefully find a secret about this zone."_

I was shocked. Tails was not only lucky to find this laptop, but also salvage his USB drive? How he got away with it, I'm not sure but... I think this was a blessing in disguise. Vector continued to clack away at the keyboard.

 _"How long will it take for the decryption?"_

 _"It may take some time. As we're speaking right now, I am performing multiple tasks in the background to decrypt files. However, you have my word that I'll decrypt them as fast as I could."_

"And to think, Tails was able to give us a lil' bit of hope," Vector said.

"It's rather smart of him to do this, even after his death," Blaze replied. Suddenly, Ditz grew silent.

 _"Pardon me, what did you say?"_ it said.

Vector shook his head and typed away, hoping to dodge the question.

 _"Thank you for what you're doing. Make sure the mastermind doesn't see you."_

Ditz was silent for a bit before responding. _"You're very much welcome. I have a few backup plans should the event something goes wrong. Thanks to the webcam and microphone, I can tell who is here. I could scream for help if someone comes in."_

"Well, there goes that plan," Wave crossed her arms while I looked confused. "Oh, don't look at me like that, shorty! Did you forget? All of our rooms are soundproof, so we couldn't hear this thing even if we tried!"

"Well, why don't we guard the dressing room each night then?" I asked.

"Not a chance," Vector replied. "There's a good chance the mastermind would notice us all going in and out of the dressin' room like that."

"I'm out of ideas then. What do we do?"

Vector crossed his arms and looked up at all of us. "When nighttime comes, I'll leave mah door open."

"Huh?! Isn't that dangerous?!"

"It is, and I know I'm settin' mahself up for bein' a victim. But I just wanna let ya know... I'm not as weak as ya think I might be. Try and kill me, and I'll make sure I won't go down without a fight."

The glint in Vector's eye and the tone of his voice showed that he was more serious than ever. I just hoped he'd be okay...

Suddenly, Ditz spoke again.

 _"Now, it is my time to ask you a question. And I want to ask again, whoever that was that said 'even after he died', what did you mean?"_

We looked at each other, not sure what to do or say. Then, Vector began to type.

 _"I'm sorry, Ditz. Tails has been executed."_

Ditz was silent before speaking. _"Oh... I... I see... I... never would have imagined such a thing would have happened. But... Mr. Tails told me how scared he was about what was going on, and confided with me everything. He didn't know whether or not he'd die, or everything about his situation would make him snap and make him kill someone. Murder... wasn't in Tails' eyes or his voice, and I could tell that. He just wanted to be by Sonic's side and know he'd protect him when times were dire. But... it seems that even he couldn't avoid fate. Is Sonic still alive too?"_

 _"You know him?"_

 _"There is history, yes. You could ask him about that, if it seems. I don't think I see him anywhere."_

 _"Sonic hasn't taken Tails' death lightly. He has shunned everything and became very cold-hearted and borderline sociopathic."_

More silence from Ditz before it spoke again. _"I see... so it is even worse than it seems. If Sonic does come to his senses, there is something Tails told me to do in the event that he does die. Since he isn't here, I won't do it right now, but I figured I'd let you know."_

Big frowned. "I feel bad for Ditz..."

"Y-Yeah..." Tikal nodded. "I can tell she had such an attachment to Tails. And to see her almost... mourning him..."

"Are you sure you want to talk about it like that?" Blaze smiled. "It's just a computer program. It doesn't have feelings."

"Are you sure about that?..." Big turned his head. Vector ignored him and placed the laptop on the bench.

"Alright, I think that's enough. If we're here for too long, then we might get the mastermind suspicious."

He then proceeded to type one more sentence.

 _"I'll come back later."_

 _"Very well,"_ Ditz replied. _"It's a promise. I shall meet you all here later. Just be careful for anything that lays ahead..."_

With that, the circle on the screen disappeared as more command prompt windows popped up. Sure enough, we were done communicating with Ditz, and the screen showed just the desktop.

"Hey you know..." Silver said. "Do you think maybe we could connect this laptop online? We could find out what's going on and even call for help using an ethernet cable!"

"I don't think there is a cable, more or less an outlet for us to put one in here," Tikal replied. "But that would be a smart idea if we could find one... keyword, IF..."

"Well, what if we take it outta here and find somewhere that will!"

"You idiot!" Jet replied. "And let that dumb Egg Robo see it?!"

"O-Oh... right."

"Jet brings up a good point," Vector replied. "This is no time to take risks. Fer now, we gotta wait until Ditz does its file analysis. I'm sure we'll find some kinda clue."

"This feels more like a detour more than anything else, but... I suppose it can't be helped," Blaze added.

"So, should we get going?" Storm asked, to which Vector nodded his head. I was confident that we could find something too. I mean, while I DID have questions... I knew that playing the waiting game was all we really COULD do.

"Good bye Mr... or uh... Ms?... I'm not sure... but goodbye Ditz..." Big waved as he turned around and waddled off. We all joined to follow him.

* * *

As we all crowded around the entrance of the bathhouse, Tikal put her hand over her chest. "Thank goodness we found a new lead! Perhaps this could be the hope we need!"

But little did any of us know...

Egg Robo suddenly appeared between all of us, startling us. "AAH, it seems like Ms. Tikal is in quite high spirits today! Did you gain enough affinity with her? So, you guys seem really happy! What's the occasion? Want me to throw a party? We can have cake and chips and cola and-"

"N-Nothing happened!" I said, trying to defuse the situation. Sure, junk food SOUNDS tempting, but I'd rather keep my mouth shut. I could tell that Egg Robo didn't believe me, as he got into my face and stared into my eyes.

"Keeping secrets from me? That's no fair! I should make a nursery rhyme about how you're acting right now! I call it: Charmy Charmy, Yes Egg Robo?"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"

"Yeah, well we'll see who's laughing when I make money off unsuspecting kids who do nothing but click on a screen all day!

"Whatever you want, we're not telling you!" Tikal replied. "Just because you want to know doesn't mean you HAVE to know!"

As if to cut all of us off, Blaze walked in front of us all, smiling. "We were just talking about going to the bathhouse. We haven't had the chance to relax with all of these murders and class trials."

"Huh?" Egg Robo look confused.

"Yes, you heard me. Tragically, the damned thing isn't split by genders, and while we are mature people..."

I could hear Jet and Storm giggle.

"...it would be inappropriate to have the boys and girls bath together, no? So, we played rock, paper, and scissors to decide who would go first. It just so happened that Tikal won the match for us."

Tikal looked a little shocked, but played along. "Y-Yeah! I was super happy because I didn't want to have to wait my turn! Speaking of which, gentlemen in front of us... why don't you wait for us while us girls wash up?"

"Do you have to describe it like that..." I heard Wave said. "You really do sound so prudish right now."

"Let's not get started, Wave! I'm sure you could use a bath to glisten up those feathers of yours!"

"Well I... ugh, fine. Maybe I have been working a little too hard on stuff in my room and haven't gotten the chance to clean properly..."

"Yeah, what can you do?" Silver said. "C'mon guys, let's wait for them here!"

"Well, ladies. Let us commence," Blaze walked along to the bathhouse as Tikal and Wave joined her.

"Man though, doesn't it suck that only three girls got in first while the rest of us have to deal with it?"

"Should we head back?" I asked. Suddenly, Egg Robo stopped us.

"Hold onnnnnnnnnnnn! Something's strange here... very strange!"

"What's strange?"

"How you wanna leave... when this is your perfect chance to take a peek!"

"T-Take a peek?!"

"Yeah! I mean, they're your classmates and you never know when they might drop dead! And you're men too!"

"That seems like it's full of assumptions..." Espio said.

"Yeah uh... that's a no from me. That's not only harassment, but that's just morally wrong. I'm outta here," Vector added as he walked off.

"As will I. I don't wish to partake in this."

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH?!" Egg Robo said. "And where are you two going? If you aren't gonna watch... then I bet you're gonna go into a classroom and make out like a certain fanfiction writer's terrible story!"

"W-What are ya sayin'?!" Vector retorted, looking away.

"You know! The ones where you meet and ohh you're not in love at all, you're like Detective partners, or college roommates, or you're "friends" who live with each other alongside their not-so son, or one's a survivor of a great tragedy and the other is a guy who has too much money and has his own TV show... but then you fall in love and everything's all happy! You know, those kinds of terrible stories!"

"What kind of deluded fantasy are you talking about?!" Espio retorted. "Do you picture me doing said things with Vector?"

"Hey, I said terrible fanfiction writer, not me! Who knows, he's probably writing this right now, hoping someone will ship you two!"

"Okay, you've gone insane. I'm leaving."

Vector followed suite as Egg Robo stomped his foot. "YOU LOVEBIRDS ARE GONNA MISS ITTTTT! It's the ideal setting of a man's fantasy!"

"A man's fantasy indeed, I'm pumped!" Jet rubbed his hands together. "Thankfully, I'm real well versed on sneaking around, so just follow me!"

"I hope you know what you're doing at least!" Silver added as the two went into the bathhouse. Myself, Big, and Storm looked at each other, clearly playing the straight man in this situation. But I wondered... should I sneak into the bathhouse like Egg Robo said... or go back to the dining hall?

I bit my lip and went inside, hoping that as long as they didn't know... it should be fine, right?

"Have fun in your man's fantasy!" Egg Robo said. "Have a REALLY good time!"

* * *

Maybe it was my internal teenage self, but as much as I wanted to quit and say this was disgusting... there was some part of me that kind of wanted to take even the slightest peek. I mean sure, by the way I'm saying it, I sound like I'm gonna be the next peeping tom. B-But I'm sure if you were in my situation, it would make a LITTLE bit of sense... right?

"Alright Charmy, you're on point!" Jet said, pointing at me.

"What? Why me?" I replied.

"Because you're the smallest and you can easy hide your head if you get caught! Now do it!"

"Okay, _mom_."

Creeping to the bathhouse door, I put my hand over the doorknob.

"Yo, don't let us get caught! I dunno what Wave would do if we got caught by her!" Silver said.

"Oh, she'd probably do water torture on you but use oil instead!" Storm replied.

"You say that like she's done that on you before!"

"Let's just say it wasn't a good three hours..."

With their talking, I gently cracked the door open.

"Well, what do you see?" Jet asked as he came over and looked above from where I was. Everyone else followed suite, and I found myself overshadowed by a lot more bigger guys.

I squinted my eyes, and through the thick, rising steam... I saw Blaze in the tub, eyes closed and a smile on her face. Wave and Tikal were scrubbing their hair, towels only covering from below the waist, and for some reason... Amy, who had slipped on a bar of soap and was just seconds from splashing into the water. How she got in there, I have NO idea. What I did know is that once Amy made contact with the water, we all bolted out of there as I heard Jet, Storm, and Silver all giggle like children back to the dining hall.

"Alright guys, what a job well done!" Jet said, hands behind his head. "Now, all we gotta do is wait for the lovely ladies to take a bath and we're smooth sailing from there!"

I was a bit silent though. Was... what I did okay? I mean, if someone did that to me, I'd feel creeped out too.

But unfortunately, my actions spoke louder than words... Well, I sure as hell was about to get some karma for this in the future. Just then, before I could ponder to myself about what a massive idiot I was for being a creep... voices grew louder as Wave, Tikal, and Blaze walked in.

"Ah, that was a great bath!" Tikal smiled. "You're free to use it now, boys,"

"We happened to come across Rosie too. Apparently, she was hiding out looking for Sonic and slipped on a bar of soap," Blaze added.

"Oh no, that sucks!" Storm said in his most convincing 'fake' voice.

"Let's just hope she'll calm down. She turned back to Amy, looked at us all, and ran out crying."

Now THAT I didn't hear about. Still though, I'm just hoping she'd okay.

Just then, Egg Robo interrupted us.

"SORRY BOYS, gonna have to cut your bath time short!" he said.

"Oh for heavens sake, you really do like to be the thorn on everyone's side, don't you?"

"Unless you mean a robotic thorn, then no I am not, Ms. Wave!"

"How ironic that you're here," Blaze said. "We were just talking about in the bath how it seems like it won't be long before you introduce us another motive. So, what is it this time? Are we to be tied up watching an awful video game adapted movie until one of us snaps from how awful everything is and commit murder?"

"That was my original idea, but I had some change of plans! But you say that like it won't be fun... you're all so terrible to me! I would have even shown you the BEST adapted video game movie so you can at least savor your final moments together rather than go crazy in five minutes..."

Egg Robo began to fake sniff. "That's so cold of you! And even when I brought you presents too!"

"Presents?" I asked. He'd be the LAST person I'd expect to give us one.

"Well now, well now! You seem interested NOW, Mr. Bee! I knew once you heard the word presents, you couldn't resist! Alright, come and meet me at the gym! And maybe we CAN have an actual party with cake, chips, cola, and all kinds of fattening junk food like I promised earlier! No questions, so get a move on!"

With that, Egg Robo left. Big's ears lowered.

"Oh no... is it beginning again?..." he said with sadness in his voice.

"So, it seems round three begins with yet another motive," Wave added. "He really will not let this murder game go, will he?"

"No... no please!" Tikal rubbed her hands together as she took deep breaths. "I don't want to! I don't wanna do this anymore!"

"Me too, I'm like... traumatized, dude!" Silver said, hands over his head.

A sudden voice then spoke up. "It's okay. We got Ditz."

Shocked and wondering who it was, we saw Vector and Espio by the doorframe of the dining hall.

"Vector, Espio!" I said. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, never better. Dun worry, as long as we got Ditz, then I'm sure we can find something that'll hopefully give us SOME kinda material to work with."

"By the way, where were you?!" Jet exclaimed.

"None of your business," Espio replied. "Vector and I needed some time alone to speak."

"Aha! So you DID make out like Egg Robo said!"

Espio was silent for a minute before speaking. "It seems like you want to be the first victim to my katana. I just sharpened it today, and I'll have you know... it cuts paper like it's nothing."

Jet yelped as Storm came to his defense. "Hey, don't mess with the boss like that, shorty!"

"Really? Well, tell your 'boss' he should at least come up with a plausible theory rather than come up with assumptions."

"Look, that's enough arguin'," Vector crossed his arms. "Fer now, we gotta head to the gym. C'mon, let's go."

Vector and Espio walked out as I followed suite, buzzing to catch up with them. When we finally arrived, we saw two people there. There was Sonic, looking solemn and with his arms crossed. And then there was also... Amy.

When Amy turned around to face us all, she gasped and just looked at us, turning away quickly.

"Amy... is everything alright?" I asked as I buzzed up to her. Just as I was about to put my hand on her shoulder to comfort her... she suddenly grabbed me and hugged me tight, sobbing.

"Y-YOU GUYSSSSSSSSS!" the pink hedgehog sobbed. "I'M SO SORRYYYY! YOU... YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO SEE THAT SIDE OF ME!... I HATE IT... I HATE THAT MY TRUTH IS OUT!..."

"A-Amy! Please let me go!" I said, trying to get out of her grip. She saw what she did and let me go, sobbing as she ruffled her hair. "Amy... it's..."

"No, you don't need to say anything. There's... there's no reason to sugarcoat anything anymore. Anything about me... it's all not real! It's all overshadowed by a murderer who happened to pick my body-"

"Amy, listen to me," Vector said. "Who ya are when yer Rosie the Rascal... that's not yeh. True, they inhabit yer body but that doesn't mean that Rosie defines who ya are as a person. No matter what, even if Rosie the Rascal lives in yeh... I ain't gonna treat you any different now."

"Y-Yeah!" I nodded. "You're still our friend, Amy! That doesn't change! And besides, we all have imperfections. Some might be bigger than others but... they're still imperfections that make us people!"

"Y-You guys..." Amy sniffed.

"Charmy said it perfectly," Espio added. "You've shown us that you love and care for us, and while Rosie is... well, Rosie. That doesn't mean we're going to give up on you. So please, there's no need for crying anymore. You can let it all out, but there's no need to be ashamed anymore."

Amy nodded, took out a handkerchief, and blew her nose on it, still nodding her head and saying thank you over and over. Sonic simply shook his head and walked over to us.

"Oh Gaia, here it comes..." Jet said, shaking his head.

"Ugh, enough with this ghastly pity party. If I have to watch anymore, rest assured I'd shoot myself If I had a gun," he said.

"When were you here?" I asked.

"You saw me, didn't you bee?"

"I did. It's just my life is easier pretending you don't exist."

Sonic's face grew even more cold. "You're just ASKING me to let me kill you next, you know that, bee? You ALL are crossing so many lines."

"I love how you think we take you seriously," Wave said. "It's cute honestly."

Just then, we heard noises from the podium... and sure enough, Egg Robo bounced onto the podium, a microphone on his coat.

"It looks like everyone's here! So let's get started!" he said. "Tell me you all, have you seen the game show, 'Big Money! Game de Get'?"

"Course I have! I've seen every episode and I like to DVR them all!" Silver said. We all looked at him, dumbfounded. "What? I like game shows!"

"More like wish you could have the money on game shows!" Jet teased, sticking his tongue out.

"What does a game show have to do with a motive?" Wave asked. "Don't even lie, we all know that you brought us here to bring us a new motive."

"Whatever you DO have planned, you won't break us. I'll just let you know that RIGHT now!" Espio pointed his katana at Egg Robo.

"Exactly! No matter how big or small it is... I won't let these motives bother me anymore!" Tikal added.

"Ho ho ho! You don't have to get so defensive! I haven't even said a word and already you want to resist!" Egg Robo laughed. "You see, I figured it was time for another killing to happen, but tragically, after the whole secret thing, I was kinda wondering: Where do I go from here? I started running out of ideas! So screw it!"

Egg Robo jumped onto the podium, held his arms out, and suddenly came...

A party ball from the ceiling.

"And so, I present to you my next motive!"

The party ball opened, and from the massive amount of confetti that came out, a massive pile of rings fell from the sky and all crash landed in front of Egg Robo in a neat pile.

"TEN MILLION RIIIIIIINGS! That's right! If you graduate... you get to leave here with a ten million ring check! And no, this ain't fake at all! You're looking at it right now!"

This... was our motive? Money? I got the first two, but this is...

"You idiot!" Jet said. "The Babylon Rogues' personal savings is WAYYY more than ten million rings! Increase that to one hundred million or even a billion and then we might talk! But right now... that's chump change to me!"

"It's true that money has been used as a motive fer so many things..." Vector said. "But this is just..."

"It's a terrible motive!" Tikal said. "There's no way we'd kill each other for money!"

"Exactly. You can't purchase someone's life," Espio added. Just then, we saw Silver looking starry eyed at the pile of rings.

"I want it," was all he said.

"D-Don't joke about that!" Amy exclaimed.

"W-Well I never said I was gonna kill for it!"

"Too bad, Silvy! You gotta!" Egg Robo said.

"I do? Man, forget about that."

"Regardless... how true is it that you all won't kill for it?" Wave said. "We have no use for it, but I'm sure someone with a financial situation might."

"But that doesn't mean anything!" I said. "However much you wanna throw at us, no... however many motives you wanna throw at us... we won't kill our friends!" I exclaimed.

"Aren't you done being tough, Charmy?" Egg Robo replied. "The most important thing you should be doing is living a pure and communal life! So remember: ten million rings is up for grabs as long as you kill someone! It's like winning the lottery kiddos! Think about all the candy and ice cream you can buy with it! Or not! Whatever!"

With that, Egg Robo disappeared, leaving us alone with the pile of rings in front of us.

"There's... there's nothing to worry about, right?" Tikal asked. "It's just an absurd motive. Nobody would kill a friend for money, right?"

"Have you forgotten, girl?" Sonic replied. "No, have you ALL forgotten? You seem to forget how people will still kill for any motives. No amount of 'you can't kill our friends' can undo that. And so, for the rest of you who fail to understand this every time... whatever happens, happens without warning. That is the nature of this game."

"Tch, well it's a dumb game if Egg Robo expects me to really kill for something as small as this," Jet muttered.

Just then...

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

Sure enough, it was now night time, and Egg Robo's mug displayed on the monitor in the gym.

"Mm, ahem," He began. "This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."

"Ah, so it's time for bed now..." Tikal said.

"Before we separate, lemme remind yeh," Vector closed his eyes. "Startin' tonight, I'm gonna leave mah door open to make sure nothin' happens to... IT. But just cause mah door is open, dun assume that I'm an easy target. If yeh do decide to take that risk however... just be warned that yeh'll be the prey instead of the predator."

I could see the seriousness in Vector's eyes, as well as hear the calm and composed tone in his voice. It was clear he meant what he said.

"O-Okay, okay!" Silver said. "We got it! We won't come after you! Besides, I don't wanna get eaten by you! Those teeth look sharp from afar! Let's just head back to our rooms! And let's not think about the ten million ring thing! No amount of money should decide a killing! Alright? Good, let's head out! How did that sound, Sonic?"

"Terrible."

"Glad to hear you're being nicer today! Okay, good night guys!"

* * *

After we all departed the gym, I returned back to my room for the night, where I crawled into bed.

Ten million rings...

No one in my family has ever had that kind of money. I remember dad complaining about 'rich businessmen' on TV when he was watching the news, and I know that my parents made money by being hard workers. Not by... murdering...

There's no way that was gonna get someone killed. I told myself that, but... I thought the same thing last time. And look where that ended up. Even if the reason is nonsensical... a murder could still happen. That's the lesson we learned.

But this time, I had to have a different outlook. This time... I knew with Ditz on our side, we had a little bit of hope to grasp onto. As long as we have Ditz... I'm sure about that.

Before I went to bed, I thought about my parents again. I thought about Saffron... where were they now? What happened to them? And most importantly... how would they feel knowing I'm stuck in a situation like this?

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"You know, for all this time this story has been going on... I'm shocked that no one's called me cute! I mean look at me: I look like an Egg, I have a lab coat, I even kept my trademark moustache... and yet no one calls me cute! Why is that? I want to be as cute as... a Chao! Yeah, that's it! I want to look like I came out from a Chao Kindergarten! In fact, on that note, I used to have a Chao of my own! His name was Lil' Bingus, and he was my best friend! You know, that does bring up something... how come you can put Lil' in front of something and it suddenly becomes cute! If that's what I need... then I think I need to be called Lil' Egg Robo now! See? I think I'm a lot cuter now! In fact, we could even make up a league of villains that can be cute if you put Lil' in front of it! Think about it: Lil' Chaos, Lil' Black Doom, Lil' Mephiles, Lil' Dark Gaia, Lil' Zavok, the list goes on and on! Even the darkest of villains can be bright and happy!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	20. Chapter 3 (Daily Life 2 & 3)

**(AN: Welcome back to Despair Hill Zone! Normally I would have Daily Life 2 up by now, but I decided to combine 2 and 3 together mainly cause 4 and 5 are gonna be packed with quite a lot of content! It's still filler, but we do have some more development from all corners here!**

 **Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! I've been loving all your kind messages and it's reviews like those that make me happy to not only be working on this fic, but also bring me motivation to keep on writing for you guys! So from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much!**

 **Anyway, time for some happy feel good times before eventual Despair!)**

* * *

 _"Egg Robo, I wish you were never born."_

 _He sat next to another Egg Robo on a bench, both of them looking at each other in their eyes as the stars in the sky shone._

 _"Egg Robo, I like you as a friend."_

 _A group of Egg Robos all danced around a bonfire, the smoke from the flames filling their nostrils with the smell of charred maple._

 _"Egg Robo, quit coming to our club meetings."_

 _And finally, Egg Robo sat in the middle of a dark room, a single spotlight on him as he put his finger on his mouth._

 _"So, which one of these exchanges do you feel relates to you the most? Are you the one saying it, or receiving it? If you can't relate to any... well, you just haven't experienced life."_

* * *

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The usual message, the usual 'forget that good morning message ever happened' ritual I did daily. For some reason though... the fact that five people weren't alive to hear that message anymore... I felt sad for some reason? It was a weird thing to be upset about this morning, but... it's not like I was going to be happy or anything. All I did was do my morning rituals; get out of bed, go to the bathroom, wash up and use the toilet, and then leave.

Sure enough, my schedule didn't change, and I soon found myself leaving my room.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents...**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

 **Despair Hill Zone Act 2**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 2**

When I left my room, I found Vector and Espio talking to each other by the end of the hallway. What I did notice was that the two weren't wearing their usual attire. Instead, Vector had on a tank top and sweatpants, and Espio had no shirt on, but had his usual pants on with none of his weapons anywhere on him. I could also see sweat falling down from their scales.

"Oh, hey guys!" I said, buzzing up to them. "Morning!"

"A good morning to you too, Charmy," Espio said.

"Likewise. Didja just wake up?" Vector added, nodding.

"Yeah! And wow, you guys sure are sweaty this morning!" I pointed out. "What's the occasion?"

"Ah, we both woke up early and did exercise in the rec room."

"Really? Wow, I didn't take you as such to do that."

"Charmy, I'm the Ultimate Ninja, of course I must submit my body to all kinds of rigorous training," Espio said.

"And I ain't just brains. I'm a mix of brawn too, and ya heard what I said when I made that threat towards everyone. Besides, I need it fer what I do as the Ultimate Detective," Vector added.

"We were thinking of heading to our breakfast meetings once we changed of course. I don't think me without a shirt would win the approval of some, so I must follow the laws of decency. Besides, a good hearty meal after a workout is divine."

"I hope ya dun mind us leavin'. We'll be there to join."

"Okay guys, later!" I waved as the two headed down the red and black hall. I turned around and buzzed towards the dining hall. When I did, I saw Silver, Blaze, Big, Amy, and Tikal all sitting down. Tikal and Big were making small talk as the echidna girl munched on a few slices of toast and an orange and Blaze drank from a cup of (what I presumed to be) tea.

"Oh, yo Charmy!" Silver said upon seeing me. "Glad to see you could make it!"

I sat down. "Thanks, I guess... Vector and Espio said they'd be here soon. They were just working out."

"Huh, never took Espio as the type to do that! Well still, sucks that not everyone's here. Only Sonic and the Babylon Rogues aren't showing up."

"I mean, with how they are, I don't think we're missing much," Blaze smiled. Just then, Vector and Espio walked in with their usual attire. We all said morning as they took their seats in between me.

"Geez, you guys sure like to be around me, huh?" I asked.

"Let's just say yer startin' to grow on me," Vector replied.

"Likewise," Espio nodded.

"Ah, just the person I wanted to ask," Blaze said. "Vector, did everything go alright last night?"

Vector nodded. "Yup, didn't have any kinda problem. I went and checked... IT a while ago. It's still fine an' dandy. However... I think from here on, we need to make a new rule. I know it's gonna sound weird but... it'll make more sense when I explain it. From here on out, using... IT without permission is prohibited. Someone goin' in an' out of the dressin' room is gonna bring unwanted attention from the mastermind."

"Oh, while it does sound smart... it is fairly obvious. Why does that need to be a rule again?"

"Just in case. Ya never know after all. I won't point any fingers but... I think someone who's not here right now would know what I'm talkin' 'bout."

I turned my head. It had to be either one of the Babylon Rogues or Sonic that was doing SOMETHING with Ditz!

...but I didn't bother to think about it too much. We all ate breakfast in a rush, and I soon returned to my room once everything was done. When I did, I noticed there was quite a bit of dust... well everywhere really. I decided I'd use the first part of my day cleaning around. I would tell you more about it but... when was cleaning ever fun?

Needless to say, it took me almost two hours to clean it all. One for not just the two nightstands, but also my bathroom too. Once I was done though, I admired my work.

"Okay, for REAL this time, what should I do?"

 **Free Time**

It felt like it was forever since I had the time to relax. Even though we had a motive right in front of us, I wasn't gonna let that bother me. What I WAS gonna do, since the topic of money has been on the table since yesterday, was foolishly spend it at the Zone Store because... why not!

With that, I came out from the store about ten minutes later with a bunch of capsule presents. Now my biggest question was... who should I hang out with?

I decided to buzz from the first floor all the way to the third, looking for people to talk to. I could see Silver and Storm playing a board game from the window of the rec room, and I imagine Big was still in the art studio.

Just then, I heard someone walking up the stairs, and then scoffing.

"Ugh, as if my day couldn't get any worse."

Sure enough, it was Green Hills' residential asshole: Sonic.

Still though... as much as he hated everyone and everything, I NEEDED to know what happened to him and his psyche since the days of Tails' execution. I knew I was gonna hate myself for this but... I had to talk to him.

"Oh... hey Sonic..." I said, forcing myself to be nice. "D-Did you want to hang out?"

"Hang out? Hang out?! You act like I would want to waste my time with such stupidity."

There was a moment of silence between us as he turned around.

"Fine. I'll let you indulge some of my time. You should be thankful for that, bee. Now come on."

"W-Where are we going?"

"I'm taking some books back from the library back to my room. I was going to take care of it myself, but since you want to be so helpful... carry them back for me. We ARE 'hanging out' as you say, no?"

I bit my tongue. For Gaia's sake, I should have known what I'd gotten myself into...

* * *

Five trips.

Five trips from the library carrying heavy books from the second floor to the first floor, THEN having to open the gate to and from the hotel. I think Sonic didn't even need these books, I think he just wanted to torture me.

But... I guess we got closer today? I sure as hell didn't want to give him a present though.

"Well, thank you for the help. It's so nice to have a servant finally. Keep at it, and maybe I'll reconsider my opinion about you. Of course, the likelihood of that happening is beyond small, so don't cross your fingers," Sonic said with his smug look on his face.

"Yeah, I just want to ask... why? Why this whole act of wanting to be cruel to everyone that you use to cope?" I asked.

"Tch, you sound like someone who hasn't lost a friend at all. You couldn't understand, could you? What's happened to me isn't 'me being cruel'. No, it's being realistic. Think about it. This whole thing is a game, and that I do plan to win this in the end. That's why I have to avenge Tails! But of course, you and everyone else here wants to talk about 'love and friendship' and I just want to vomit the more you talk about it. Listen well, in this world, there's no such thing as that. When something awful happens, love and friendship doesn't matter anymore. The weight of cruelty outweighs any kind of positive emotion."

"What do you mean?"

"Tails suffered a brutal execution. He died because of this unjust system, because YOU weren't the bait that Cream took! Had her plan went well, I think Tails would still be alive."

"Didn't you forget? Tails was the one to be killed!"

Was... was Sonic REALLY trying to say that I was better off dead?!

"Of course I didn't forget. But I think I can infer that Cream wanted SOMETHING to happen to you. You did forget how she tried to set you up as her killer, right?"

"ENOUGH! I get that you're still mourning but... you fall victim to the despair that Egg Robo talks about!"

"Victim? No no, I just think that this constant talk about hope is pointless. After all, there IS no such thing as hope."

"Yes there is! And it's name is... Ditz!"

When I said that name, Sonic's eyes widened and his demeanor changed. He suddenly got a look of both terror and shock on his face.

"Ditz... did... did you just say DITZ?!" he exclaimed.

"Uh... Sonic?"

"Did... did you really find Ditz?"

"You know about it?"

I then remembered what Ditz said about Sonic and how they 'did have a little bit of history'. Now it was making more sense...

"Charmy, is it TRUE?"

I nodded.

The look in his eye became more vacant, as if the anger that was in him went away.

"...let me see Ditz."

"Why?"

"JUST LET ME!"

Hoping to not cause another outburst, I simply nodded as I motioned to him to follow me. I then remembered that Vector told us not to use Ditz under any circumstance. But... could this be the key to understanding Sonic?

And so, we both walked to the bathhouse. Before we could even leave the hallway... I saw Vector.

"Charmy... why is Sonic with yeh? Where are ya goin'?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb with me. Where are ya goin'? It's probably fer the best ya don't drag him around."

"I-I know! I was getting hungry, so I decided to get something."

"With Sonic?"

"Y-Yeah. With Sonic."

Vector walked up to Sonic, looked at him in the eyes and squinted. I was hoping we wouldn't get caught, but he simply just walked away after a couple of seconds at squinting at Sonic.

"Man, that was close," I said. "Okay, let's be quick about this."

I just hope he wasn't onto us...

And if to torment us even more... Rosie was standing outside of the bathhouse.

"Oh hey, it's Chimcharm! And-" she stopped when she saw Sonic. "W-What?... WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH MY DARLING SONIKKU YOU S.O.B?!"

"I-I have to take him to the bathhouse!" I replied, trying to get Rosie out of the way. "Now shush, you'll alert Vector!"

"Maybe I should tell him that you have my Darling with you as if you can take him around! Listen up, he's mine and mine only!"

"Rosie just... pass," Sonic said solemnly.

"My Darling Sonikku commanded me! Of course, master! Anything for you!" Rosie put her hands on her face and got out of the way for us to enter. At least we were able to get rid of her...

Once we did enter the bathhouse, Sonic simply walked forward.

"Show me where."

"Hey listen, how do you know about Ditz anyway?"

"...Ditz was... created by Tails to be the next generation of A.I. Because of his Ultimate Sidekick title, a lot of his work on Ditz was not only inspired by his knowledge, but also from our own personal experiences, and wanting someone to forever record those memories. I even remember late nights when we'd call each other, and I could hear him clack away at a keyboard developing Ditz. Tails was... truly an intelligent person. But... he didn't want his intelligence to define him, no, he wanted to be remembered as the one who always stuck by me... even in death. So please, show me Ditz."

Nodding, I buzzed over to the locker with the laptop in it. Turning it on, the same thing from last time happened. A bunch of command prompt windows popped up, the startup screen displayed, and finally... Ditz appeared on screen.

 _"You... you are not Mr. Vector."_

Panicking, remembering what Vector told Ditz to do should a stranger appear, I quickly typed.

 _"No no no, it's me! Charmy Bee! Vector's friend!"_

 _"Charmy?"_

 _"Yeah, I have someone who would like to speak to you."_

I motioned towards Sonic to sit down, and he grabbed the laptop and placed it on his lap. He already began to shed tears as he typed slowly.

 _"Ditz... this is Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."_

 _"Mr... Sonic? Is that you?"_

 _"Ditz. Does Tails hate me for letting him die?"_

 _"...I'd like to ask YOU a question, Mr. Sonic. Do you think you're responsible for what Tails did?"_

Sonic simply turned his head.

 _"It appears you're confused,"_ Ditz continued. _"It's true that what Mr. Tails did was irredeemable, but from what he has told me... you all had this fear since your first day. Much like everyone else, Mr. Tails was scared and didn't know what to do. He even said that if he killed, he couldn't bear what to think if he couldn't save you."_

More tears fell from Sonic's eyes. This... was somewhat similar to what Tikal was saying after Tails' execution. No doubt... if Tails DID get away with what he did... would he act the same way that Sonic was acting, knowing fully well he was the reason he killed his best friend? In fact, it would be no surprise if he went insane after that.

 _"Mr. Sonic, if it is not inappropriate, Mr. Tails has left you something in the event he passes away. Since you are here, I shall now display it. Please wait a moment."_

The laptop screen went black for a few seconds, but when it came back...

Tails was on the screen.

 _"Sonic? Buddy? It's me, Tails."_

Sonic's breathing hitched as I could hear the hedgehog now starting to hold back his sobs.

 _"If you're watching this message that I left with Ditz, then one of two things happened: either I was murdered or executed. I'm sorry that this is what happened if you're watching this. Never did I think you'd HAVE to experience anything like what would happen to me. But Sonic... please listen, for what I'm about to say is very important. Knowing you so well, I don't think you would take what happened to me very well. In fact, I could almost see you cracking. However, I don't want you to do that."_

Tails coughed. _"Please, don't be upset at anyone, nor do you have to cry over me. Instead, please live your life from here on not just for yourself, but for the both of us. It's impossible for me now but... you still have your life. You can escape with the others to freedom, and I know you can. It'll be awful without me there, but I'm still there in spirit. So don't let yourself feel like you're responsible for whatever happens to me. You aren't. I'd want you to get up and find out the truth of this zone, and to maybe, just maybe... fight Egg Robo for me. Don't be mean and brash towards the others too... they're not any more responsible like you are. They're afraid and want to get out too, but... with you, I just know you ALL will."_

Sonic hugged the screen of the laptop, letting his sobs ring out through the walls.

 _"I understand you'd want to mourn over me, and you're free to do that. But once you're done... you have to take life by the horns and throw it! Don't you remember Uncle Chuck telling that to us when we were kids? I think now... I now get what he meant by that. I think what he meant was that we have to get up and show life that, no matter how much abuse we suffer, we won't let it overcome us. So... this is all the time I have. Remember: you are you now. I may be in your heart and soul, but you're Sonic the Hedgehog. And you have to take life by the horns and throw it."_

As the video ended, Ditz appeared on the screen again.

 _"Did that help?"_ it asked.

Sonic stopped crying, took his arms off the laptop, simply placed it next to him, got up, and... began to chuckle.

"Ha... ha ha... ha ha ha..."

"Sonic?" I asked, wondering what the strange reaction was.

"He's right... take life by the horns and throw it..."

I saw a smile on Sonic's face. It wasn't one of malice but... of joy.

"I get it... I TRULY get it now..."

Sonic clenched his fist and... began to shine gold. I took a few steps back, worried about what this meant.

"Denying EVERYTHING wasn't what I needed... being like THIS wasn't what I needed... All I needed was... Tails' soul with me. His words... deep within my heart!... IT'S ALL THAT I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDD!"

As Sonic screamed, a burst of energy flew out, knocking me onto the floor. I tried to get up, but my arm was hurting bad. I was however, able to raise my head up. When I did, I saw that Sonic's blue quills were now golden, his teeth were now sharp, and his eyes were... I didn't even know HOW to describe his eyes. There were no pupils... just red circles.

"S-Sonic?! What happened?" I asked.

"Who the HELL is Sonic?!" the now golden Sonic replied, quickly getting into my face as I had to stare into the eyes of... whatever THIS was. "Tch, you look so scared, as if I burned your house down!~ Sorry for the scene, it's just... this power is AMAZEBALLS!"

"A-Amazeballs?... Wait, that's not the case! You even sound... different too..."

"Do I? DO I?! THAT'S CAUSE... I'M NOW THE NEW ME... THE FUSION OF TWO FRIENDS!"

"O-Okay... we can stop with the yelling, Sonic... I'm kinda in pain right now."

"I AM calm! And don't fucking call ME Sonic! That's not my name anymore! I... I am MEEEEEE!"

Sonic roared as he zoomed out of the room, leaving me behind. I was able to get up from the floor, holding my arm.

"H-Hey, Sonic! Wait up!" I yelled out. Before I could even turn around, I felt large footsteps behind me, and a large shadow overlooking me.

"There's someone behind me, isn't there."

I turned around and when I did... Vector was looking down on me, unamused.

"WHAT... do ya think yer doin'?"

"V-Vector! I-"

"I THOUGHT I made it clear to not use Ditz. Don't go around doin' whatever ya want. It causes problems, not just fer me, but fer everyone."

"I... I'm-"

"IF yer gonna say sorry like I think yer gonna say, then I have something ya could do instead."

"What?"

"GET. OUT."

My face fell. "I... I..."

Even with my pain, I jumped and began to flap my wings. "I'M SORRY MOMMY!"

With that, I buzzed away in embarrassment.

* * *

Once I got back to my room, I took off my helmet and smashed my head into my nightstand for a good minute.

I thought I was being helpful showing Sonic what Ditz had to say. But I didn't think it would cause THIS kind of reaction. I was worried about him. What did he mean when he said that he was 'the fusion of two friends'? He kept commenting about how he felt Tails' soul inside of him... was that what he meant?

I didn't particularly care. To be honest... once I finished beating myself up. I napped. I woke up a few hours later to Egg Robo's nighttime message. I didn't bother listening though. I was getting a little hungry, but since the dining hall was closed and since I didn't want to break our nighttime rule... maybe a quick stop to the warehouse should help.

I left my room and began to buzz towards the warehouse. When I did, I saw Tikal who was just about to open the door.

"Oh, Tikal!" I called out.

"Charmy... good evening," she replied, smiling at me. "Did you hear? Something's happened to Sonic that's caused him to go haywire."

I simply nodded, not wanting to tell her that was partially my fault.

"I am glad to see that Sonic's doing better now but... how he's acting is VERY extreme... I'm not sure how to still feel about him."

"I get you; it does sound rough. Hey, what were you headed to the warehouse for?"

"I was going to get a bottle of water before I headed back to my room. What were you getting?"

"Something to snack on. I napped all day, so I pretty much didn't really eat."

"I understand, sometimes...we all have those days that we don't really do anything. Would you like me to accompany you? I'm sure you don't want to be alone."

"Oh... I don't mind."

I know that in this killing game, anything goes. But... I could trust Tikal.

We both entered the warehouse, where Tikal quickly got what she needed. On the other hand, I just went for chips and peanuts.

"That's going to be your meal?" Tikal asked.

"I know it's not the world's healthiest thing but... well that's kinda really what they have here. It's just one giant pantry."

"I know what you mean. It's weird that Egg Robo can stock this much without any contact between our ring dimension."

"I agree, it just only further continues this mystery."

"Charmy? Do you ever think we're gonna get out?"

"I mean, do you feel like?"

"Sometimes, I want to have the hope that we will. But... with everything that's going on, some days I feel like we really WILL be stuck until we all die here. Just thinking about everyone just..."

Tikal began to cry.

"It... it's just h-hard..."

I put my hand on her shoulder. "Hey... I know it's sad to think about but everything's gonna be alright. We have..."

I looked to see if there was a camera, and sure enough, there was.

"We have IT, but most importantly, as long as we have each other, and we know to stay on guard... I don't see you being the next victim. And I know you're too sweet to commit murder."

"You... you think so?"

"Yeah, I have no doubt about it. And besides... I even noticed you've been standing up for yourself more. Did you take Shadow's advice to heart?"

Tikal nodded.

"See? Then everything's gonna be fine as long as we remember the life of our friends. I wish we could do something to remember them but... since we're stuck here, we can't really do much."

"Yeah... wow though... it feels really nice to talk to you, Charmy. I knew you were just as kind as you let on. Thank you so much," Tikal smiled at me. "If you ever wish to talk again, I'm always available. I'll be waiting too! I'm sure you have a lot to ask me. We better get going though, we don't want to break the nighttime rule."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Before that though..."

Tikal walked up to me and hugged me. "...thank you for everything."

"It's... it's no problem..." I said, wanting the hug to last a little longer. With that, Tikal left the warehouse, leaving me with my 'dinner'. I soon followed suit, not wanting to break the rule either.

* * *

As I enjoyed a meal of barbeque flavored chips and wasabi peanuts back in my room, I was still a little worried about Sonic. But there really was nothing I could do. All I COULD do was wait until tomorrow to figure out his whole... thing. I was just praying that he didn't go off the rails in the middle of the night.

Either way though, once I was finished eating, I set the bags of what I didn't eat onto my nightstand, let my food digest for a few minutes, turned off my lights, and went to sleep.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Wanna know why I hate Sonic games? No, it's not because I'm still mad that we'll never get Shadow the Hedgehog 2. It's because of one thing: Why is it that Dr. Eggman is so demonized in those games? So WHAT if he unleashes a few eldritch abominations onto the world a few times? So WHAT if he abducts cute lil' woodland creatures to turn them into his robot slaves? So WHAT if he's even hired a bunch of oni to do his bidding and even attempted to destroy time itself? All he wants to do is to destroy that darn hedgehog! Frankly, I'm glad that Eggman is doing his life's ambition! Chasing annoying little rodents who want to mess up his smart plans! And whenever I play the games with my friends, they always have to take the controller from me because I keep killing Sonic! Not fair I say! Not fair!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

* * *

 ***Ding dong, bing bonggggggggg***

Ah yes, the noise from hell itself. Otherwise known as: our morning bell.

I rolled over in bed, not wanting to get up. At the same time though... I remembered Sonic. That was all the motivation I needed to get up. I shot out of bed, buzzed towards the dining hall, and found that... no one was there when I arrived. No one except Silver however.

"Yo man, I've been waiting!" he said.

"Waiting? Uh, Silver, you're the only one here?" I asked, turning my head to the side. "Where's everyone else?"

"They went on ahead!"

"Uh... huh. Ahead to what?"

"We can talk about it later. Let's take a bath!"

A bath? And... together might I add?

With that, Silver grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the dining hall. I didn't know where we were going, but once I saw the bathhouse, I knew that HAD to be it.

When we both arrived, everyone was there. I did however, see Jet being chewed out by Vector though. Storm was hovering over him, ready to attack at any moment as Wave stood by his other side.

"Huh? What's going on?" I asked.

"Tch, your little croc friend here is being a prissy tightass!" Jet replied. "It's a fucking laptop, like... is that really so important to you?! Besides, Ditz isn't even doing anything else while looking for those files!"

"Ya THINK it's 'just a laptop', but I think ya fail to realize just how much Ditz is gonna be important to us. I told ya, didn't I? NO ONE is usin' Ditz. It's already bad enough that I caught one person usin' it already..."

Vector stared deep into my eyes as he said that, then turned to face Jet. "...but what's even WORSE is the way yer usin' it!"

"Hey, the boss doesn't have to do whatever you want!" Storm replied.

"Well yer BOSS is gonna be the reason Ditz is gonna be caught by Egg Robo if he keeps usin' it the way he is."

"Wait, wait, wait! Just HOW is Jet using Ditz?" I asked.

"Simple, Charmy. Jet snuck into the dressin' room in the middle of the night and accessed Ditz without permission. When I caught him last night... all he was goin' on about was his own personal victories and Ditz complimentin' him on all of 'em. Just a way to boost yer ego, no?"

"Jet, that's far too vain! Even for you!" Tikal said.

"I didn't ask for any comments from YOU!" Jet spat back. "Besides, it's nice to finally have someone who acknowledges what you've done besides your teammates."

"Wave? Do yeh agree with what Jet did?" Vector asked. Wave took a few seconds to come up with an answer.

"If you had to ask me... it was foolish of you to do that."

"You're against me now too?!" Jet replied in anger.

"I never said I was against you. But you ARE our leader. Sometimes, you don't really take that role seriously when you do stuff like this."

"So you ARE against me!"

"What did I just say? Besides, we compliment you because you're our leader, and most importantly, our friend. You don't need some other person to tell you that just out of pity or like they don't mean it."

"I think that it's great that Ditz is telling you you're great, boss! I'm glad to see someone knows how great you can be!" Storm said, smiling.

"Hmph, well I'm glad to see you're on my side, Storm. But back to this green baby!-"

"Baby? Huh... easy fer yeh to say. Nah, I wouldn't call mahself the baby when ya clearly want me to clarify mahself."

"I was just talking to it!"

"WHICH was prohibited, was it not?"

"So? If you all don't find out, its fair game, no?"

"Do ya even hear yerself?! If I stole the Babylon Rogues money-"

"You can't even do that! Our riches are protected by the finest security on the planet! Not to mention... Wave made sure to add stuff that'll only allowed the money to be touched by either one of us!"

"I was JUST givin' an example. Back to what I was sayin', if I stole yer money, couldn't I just say 'Oh, well you didn't SEE me take it, so it's the same as you all not knowing, right?'

Jet was silent.

"I'll take yer silence as yeh gettin' where I'm comin' from."

"If you HAVE to know..."

Jet turned around to face away from all of us. "...I've been missing having contact with some old buddies of mine. And while Storm and Wave are the only friends I need here... sometimes I just kinda wish I had someone else. So, I started talking to Ditz. It was curious about me, so I told it about everything I've done, the Babylon Rogues' history, and even how I'm the world's best Extreme Gear racer. Ditz enjoyed every minute of it, and it... it reminded me of all the times I'd win races and do interviews. I hated them before but... now that I'm stuck here, I wish I hadn't taken them for granted."

* * *

 _Ditz laughed as Jet told it about the time he refused to take money from a heist and given it to Wave and Storm, and then having to ask Wave to borrow two rings to buy a soda._

 _"Your stories are so interesting, Mr. Jet!" Ditz laughed. "Please, tell me more! I want to learn everything about you!"_

* * *

"When it told me that... I felt like... I felt like I was back in the normal world again. I felt like I wasn't stuck in this killing game, and I felt like the usual me who didn't have to suspect people for murder and this, that, or the other."

"Jet... I... I understand where you're coming from," Tikal said. "But..."

"I think you may have gotten what I was just about to say, Tikal," Blaze added. "Jet, I think you've misunderstood everything. While Ditz has become a way for you to relieve the stress and loneliness you clearly kept hidden... Ditz wasn't interested in YOU, Ditz was interested in what you KNOW. It's an A.I., nothing more to its existence than learning. Of course, it never knew a thing about Extreme Gear and about who you were, so of course it was interested. You were in expert in things Tails couldn't teach Ditz. It wanted that information, and that's all."

Jet looked up at us and sighed. "I guess that's the point. It just... it felt nice to have someone else I can finally talk to."

"Y-You aren't gonna get bored of us, right boss?!" Storm asked, panicked.

"If you even neglect this team for a COMPUTER... I swear-" Wave said before Jet interrupted.

"I'm not! It's just... argh! Can't I at LEAST talk to Ditz more?!"

But before Jet could go on, a voice from the bath area rose.

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' MEEEE!"

The glowing golden Sonic burst open the doors to the bath, a towel over his waist.

"MAN, THAT BATH WAS INCREDIMAZING! BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!"

Sonic grinned with his sharp teeth as he strutted over to us.

"Oh, Sonic. Glad to see you joined us," Silver said. "Sonic" snapped at him however.

"What did I FUCKING say? Who the hell is Sonic?!"

"Uh... you?"

"Listen up, I'm me! Got it?!"

"Well gee, hello me. I'm Silver."

"That's right... I'm both Sonic AND Tails!... And as for what you CAN call me, Sails is a dumb name, and who the hell likes Tanic?! No, from now on... I'm Fleetway!"

"Fleetway?" I asked. What kind of name WAS that anyway?

"Don't question it, bee kid! Otherwise I'm gonna stick a jar of honey up your stinger hole!"

I yelped, quickly buzzing away from Fleetway.

"Jeez, you're certainly crossing into lewd territory!" Silver pulled up his hoodie, hiding his face.

"That's enough of that, So-I mean, Fleetway!" Tikal added. "That's far too inappropriate!"

"Oh sorry, did I not include censors with what I said?! What do you think this is, a TV show?!"

"More or less, what even HAPPENED to you?..." Wave questioned.

"I can answer that," I said. I told everyone the story of what happened yesterday, with Fleetway making comments here and there.

"So, because of that message Tails left him, Sonic has transformed into a different person?" Espio asked. "I'm just glad to see he's dropped that rudeness act."

"But are you sure that's Ditz's fault? Maybe this is Tails' ghost being angry and taking control of Sonic! I mean, he IS yellow, and while Tails was orange, yellow and orange are a little similar, no?" Tikal asked.

"AAAAAAAAARGH!" Silver pulled the strings on his hoodie, closing it up more. "NOT MORE GHOSTSSSSSS..."

"THIS AIN'T NO GHOST! STOP WANTING TO DROP YOUR BALLS ON SOMETHING THAT ISN'T THAT!" Fleetway yelled.

"He's so extreme..." Storm said. "It's like... it's everything Tails and Sonic isn't!"

"God, you're really cheesing me off!"

"You cuss sometimes and other times, you don't. Make up your mind..." Wave commented.

Fleetway ignored her and got right in front of Jet, pointing at him. "Hey, featherbutt! You better listen and LISTEN good... Ditz... belongs to ME! Part of Tails' exists within me, and I'm not gonna let ANYTHING of his leave my hands!"

Tikal was confused as she asked what he meant.

"Ditz is the reason me and Tails are bonded! And I won't let ANYONE have him ever again you idiot!"

"Tch, listen to yourself you hedgehog dunce! I don't know what kind of pretend scenarios you have in your head..." Jet replied. "But Ditz at least praises my accomplishments! What has it done for you? Turn you gold? Boo-fucking-hoo! As if that means you're entitled to own him!"

"Think you can say that to me, eh? Think you can act like YOU own Ditz?!"

"At least I don't talk about 'bonding' or boning or what-fucking-ever that thing did to you! I bet you probably see Ditz like some erotic game where you tell it all your secrets and gets your rocks hard! Hell, want me to go further? Tails was probably SOOOO attached to you, I bet he's probably IN you right now doing this little façade!"

"You teach him, boss!" Storm praised.

"Maybe you should back down, I think you made your point clear," Wave added.

"I ain't done!" Jet retorted back.

"WHAT? GONNA SAY HOW WE'RE LOVERS OR SOMETHING?! NO! WE'RE MELDED TOGETHER IN THE POT OF WHITE HOT FRIENDSHIP!" Fleetway yelled.

"F-Fleetway, Jet, that's enough!" Tikal said, trying to take control of the situation. "This is far too immature of you both!"

"Likewise," Espio added. "You two need to stand down now."

"YOU TWO AREN'T INVOLVED!" the hawk and hedgehog replied at the two. "Talk down to us again and we'll ram your fists down your throats!"

"I'd like to see you try..." Espio said, getting out his shuriken. "You clearly have no knowledge of what powers I have."

I could see Big panicking, not inserting himself to the situation at all. Just before we all thought this room was about to get bloody... he intervened.

"ENOUGH."

Vector stood in the middle of all of us, looking displeasured.

"Fleetway, Jet, Espio... knock it off. Now, lemme speak to YEH two-" the crocodile grabbed the two tightly by their shoulders. "Ditz doesn't belong to ONE person. Tails left it for ALL of us. We're usin' Ditz to gain access to vital clues."

Espio took a deep breath. "Vector's right. Should anyone dare to disturb that peace... they'll have to deal with me. And unless you're quite knowledgeable with martial arts and the art of the ninja... I'll already let you know that you have no chance. And Vector? My apologies for acting brash."

Vector nodded. "No prob."

This silenced Jet and Fleetway, the two biting their lips as Jet complained about how tight Vector's grasp was.

"I dun care how yer feelin'. This is to make yeh listen to me, whether ya like it or not. Until Ditz has finished its work, don't do ANYTHIN' to it. Now, have I made mahself clear?"

Jet and Fleetway looked down, only for Vector to get a glint in his eye, shake the two, and very visually tighten his grip. "Do. I. Make. Mahself. Clear?"

"Y-Yes..." the two replied.

"I can't hear you," Espio said, getting closer.

"Y-YES! Now let go!" Jet complained, getting off from his grasp. "Jeez, so fucking annoying..."

"You done bullying the boss, croc?!" Storm questioned.

"Bullyin'? Nah, I'm just makin' sure he's learned his lesson," Vector replied with closed eyes.

"Let's just pray that he has," Wave sighed.

"Now that ya all heard me, let's get outta here. We can't stay here fer too long. And yeh two?"

"Are you STILL not done chewing us out?!" Jet complained.

"I ain't. If I even so much as HEAR that yeh two touched Ditz again, dun think I ain't gonna be afraid to crush your collective balls."

With that, Vector took his leave as Espio held up his kunai to the two. "And, once he's done with that, I might just cook them too."

Jet yelped with that statement, and with their threats sinking in, the two reptiles left.

"Alright, hedgehog clod!" the bird said. "Here's what we're gonna do! I'll bet you a MILLION of those rings from Egg Robo's motive if you can't touch Ditz once! I bet you'll fail on day one since Ditz is like your lover or whatever."

"Heh, you're on, birdbrain! And when I win... I'll be bragging to your face that you can't handle a single day without sexting Ditz!"

The two left the bathhouse, and that left just me, Storm, Wave, Big, Silver, Tikal, and Blaze.

"Wave, Storm, are you not going to follow your leader?" Blaze asked.

"Give Jet a day or two. He usually gets heated up like this," Wave replied.

"Still though, Wave! We gotta make sure the boss is fine right now!" Storm said, bouncing in place.

"I'm sure he's fine, Storm. I've been through enough of his tantrums to know he'll be fine with time. If you wanna check, go right ahead. Personally, sometimes I just wish I could tell him what a child he can be sometimes..."

With that, Wave left the bathhouse with Storm in tow.

"I sure hope Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog is okay..." Big said. "And I just hope everything's gonna be okay..."

* * *

After that, we returned back to our rooms. I wouldn't lie, with all the screaming and yelling and just the overall noise and environment in the bathhouse, I felt tired. Still though, I knew I shouldn't let it get to me. Maybe I could talk to someone that WASN'T Jet or Fleetway. Or maybe I should find Amy, since I haven't seen her all day.

...or maybe the Zone Store was waiting for me to irresponsibly blow all the EggRings I found.

You already know what answer I picked.

 **FREE TIME**

With a pocket full of even more capsules, I was coming back from the zone store where I saw Amy and Fleetway in front of the dining hall.

"S-Sonic? What happened to you?" Amy questioned.

"ARGH! Why do so many people love calling me Sonic?! I told you before! I'm MEEEEE!" Fleetway replied, the red rings in his eyes glowing brighter.

"S-Something's happened to you, and I don't like it!"

"Hey, aren't you that girl who wants to date me or something like that?! Pleasured to hear you're interested, but it ain't happenin'!"

"Huh?... You're... not being rude? What really DID happen to you?..."

"I'M FUSED UP THAT'S WHAT!"

Fleetway sped off, leaving Amy behind in her confusion. She turned to face me.

"Charmy... what happened to Sonic?"

I sighed. "It's a long story. But that's besides the point, I was wondering where you were. Was Rosie out again?"

Amy nodded her head and looked down. "I wish she wasn't here... I wanna spend more time with you guys like before, and I was able to keep her under control but... now she just wants to come out more and try and chase after Sonic. That new Sonic though... I dunno how she'll take it and I don't think I WANT to know how she'll take it."

"W-Well, just keep your head up, okay? I'm sure nothing will happen."

"Aw, thanks Charmy. It means a lot. I'm about to go get some ice cream, wanna join?"

"Uh... maybe later!"

"Okay, see ya!"

I wasn't too interested in hanging out with Amy right now, but maybe I could accompany her if I remembered.

What I did hear passing by the laundry room was one of the washing machines turned on. I was curious as to who was inside, so I poked my head in and saw... Espio. He was on the floor meditating, and by him, the washing machine was turned on. I was about to leave, not wanting to interrupt him when out of nowhere-

"It's okay, Charmy. You can come in. I was about to finish up anyway." Espio said, not opening his eyes or getting out of his position.

"H-How did you know it was me?"

"I'm a ninja, boy. I know these things."

"Is that a joke or?..."

"That's for me to know and you to find out for yourself."

I was confused but... well, I guess there was no harm. Besides though, since I have been hanging around Espio more, I did want to know a bit more about him. So, I properly entered the laundry room and buzzed across from the meditating chameleon.

"So uh... how you been?" I asked.

"Good. Just meditating while waiting for my laundry to wash."

"I see... uh, how often do you do meditation?"

"At least three times a day. It's a very good way to stimulate your mind and clears your thoughts. You might have heard that strength only comes from working out your body. While it's true that physical strength is important, meditation is something akin to working out your brain. Perhaps you'd like to try it?"

"I just... I dunno how to though."

"It's quite simple, young child. Just sit down, close your eyes, clear any thoughts you have, and focus on the emptiness."

"Emptiness? Doesn't that sound depressing?"

"Not at all. On the contrary, clearing your mind of anything is like giving it a fresh start. I'm sure with everything that's happened and all the general stupidity you find around here, meditation might be what you need to empty your thoughts."

Looking at Espio and realizing this might be what I need, I buzzed over to the chameleon, sat down next to him, crossed my legs and put my hands in my lap.

"Just take a deep breath, and relax." he said. I did what he told me too, taking a deep breath, relaxing, and closing my eyes as I cleared out my mind. All this time, I'd been thinking about the deaths that have happened, what's going to happen next, our motive, and this, that, and the other. While I know the mediation wasn't going to get rid of those problems... having a clear mind for the first time in a while might make everything so much better.

It wasn't until we heard the loud 'BZZZZZZT' of the washing machine that Espio and I were interrupted from our meditation hour. I opened my eyes to see Espio grab a laundry basket, open up the washing machine, take out all the clothes, and then walk over to the dryer and placing everything in there. I buzzed up to him once he had finally started up the dryer.

"Very good, Charmy. For a first timer, you definitely understood how to meditate correctly. I commend you for that," Espio smiled.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Well, hey... I was taught by the best!"

"You were?

"You, silly!"

Espio chuckled. "Oh, I'm not a teacher just yet, but thank you for the praise."

Both of us smiled, and I felt I had gotten closer to Espio. Remembering all the capsules I had in my pockets, I decided to give a present to him. One of the things I found was this 'repellant charm'. I wasn't too sure what it was but... it felt ninja-y. So, I gave it to Espio.

"Ah, a charm that wards off evil spirits. I have plenty of these back home, but didn't bring any with me. Hopefully with this, we might be able to ward off any ghosts," he said. "Thank you very much, Charmy. This present means a lot, and I'll be sure to cherish it."

I smiled knowing that I made Espio really happy!

"H-Hey, on that note... do you think ghosts exist?"

"Not ghosts, but spirits that want to experience the world one more time before they depart to the heavens."

"Ha, better not let Silver hear that!"

We both laughed.

"Moving onto different topics... Charmy, I'd like to ask you: Have you ever broken a bone before?"

I was taken aback. "J-Jeez, what kinda question is that?!"

"Just something I wish to know."

"I mean, that DOES sound a bit odd to ask someone but... I did actually once. It happened while riding my bike to school in primary zone. Some car accidentally turned wrong and hit my bike. I was fine since I was wearing my helmet, but I fell wrong and broke my leg. I was wailing really hard and the guy who hit me was panicking as he called an ambulance and also asked me if I knew my parents' phone number. Mom and dad got to the hospital they told me in record time once they got the call about what happened to me, and the driver was at least really apologetic about what happened. I did however get to stay home for the entire week and spent it either resting up and flying without using my legs at all, or watching cartoons. I dunno, I feel like I did more but I'm sure what happened to me isn't the most exciting thing in the world."

Espio nodded the whole time. "I see, I see... I'm sorry to hear all of that happened to you. It must have been an unfortunate circumstance."

"It really was. I dunno who was more scared though; me, my parents, or the guy that hit me."

"Well, the reason I asked was: did you know there's a way to heal yourself when you've suffered a broken bone?"

"A way? What do you mean? Don't you have to go to a doctor for that?"

"It is true that at the end of the day, you'll need to visit a specialist to fix the problem, but I've found that there is something that'll help. You see, throughout my training, I've broken many bones. Hands, arms, legs, just to name a few. And it was during one of those experiences that I learned I could use this to at least stop swelling and get back onto my feet to find the closest medical facility. It was the Arnica plant, or as you might know its, wolf's bane."

"A-Arnica?! Wait, I know a thing or two about flowers and... isn't that poisonous?!"

"It is, yes. However, this is why you have to remove the flower head and wrap the stem around wherever the swelling is. Make sure to also not let the stem contact any open wound. While the stem isn't as toxic as the flowerhead, it still has that little bit of toxin in it that can make you sick."

"Huh... I never would have thought about that! Guess that would have helped me in my time of crisis. But uh... how did you know that?"

"While training, I split my leg open, and due to the pain, I couldn't walk. However, I noticed a patch of Arnica ahead and crawled to it, getting rid of the head as I was warned as to not even touch it. And I found once I applied the stem to where it was hurting, I could somehow actually numb it enough to where I could walk on it."

"Wow, that's really cool! Well, thanks for telling me that!"

"Likewise, consider this your ninja lesson for today. We have about 95 more left you know."

"N-Ninety five?!"

"I never said being a ninja came with an instruction book."

I simply looked on ahead, pretending like I was in some sitcom and I was in one of those scenes where I faced the camera with a look of unamusement on my face.

Well still, I just hope we can get out of here in time to learn those lessons. Perhaps Espio could use a ninja partner to take down the mastermind...

Regardless, I left the laundry room soon and returned back to my room. With nothing to do, I lazed around until I felt hungry enough to have some lunch. I felt like I had been eating a little TOO much junk here, just because we were free to have basically anything we wanted here. This time though, I decided to go for something a little heartier.

"Man, if only Cream was here... we could make that huge vegetable dish we had planned..." I said. "And also... how do you make soup?"

Just then, Egg Robo popped up into the kitchen wearing a chef's hat.

"Argh! Oh Gaia, what's with the chef's hat?..." I asked.

"I heard one of my students was going to make some delicious soup! And I wanna help! So, what kind are you making? Chicken noodle?"

"I was thinking of vegetable soup."

"Ooh, sounds super hearty, Charmy! Maybe you can make some for the rest of your friends too! They'll be like, "Oh Charmy, this meal sucks!" And then they'll die the next day, with whatever you made being the last thing they ate!"

"W-Well gee, that's a morbid way to put it."

"Alright, let's get cookin'!"

And so, I was stuck being Egg Robo's personal assistant while we made our vegetable and meat soup. Egg Robo cut the vegetables as I was tasked to get out all the ingredients and pour it all into our giant pot. I would tell you more about it, but honestly, it was just boring watching Egg Robo do everything and just putting it in the pot for him. So, I just waited around.

It took about almost two hours, but we were finally done. By then, the smell of the soup attracted a few people to the dining hall.

"That smells delicious!" Tikal said. "What's being- Oh, Charmy... and Egg Robo?! What are you two doing?"

"Making your lunch AND dinner for tonight! And Charmy's helping! Aren't I such a good headmaster!" Egg Robo replied.

"Well, that's kind... Wait, Charmy! Please don't tell me Egg Robo's put poison in it?!"

Now that I knew for a fact. While I knew Egg Robo couldn't kill us, I still HAD to make sure he didn't try to pull anything funny.

"Not to worry, I made sure to check if he's done any FUNNY BUSINESS..." Glaring at the robot, Egg Robo began to sweat.

"How mean! I promise I haven't done anything at all! I just wanted to be nice... fine! You serve the stupid soup if you think I wanna off you all!"

Egg Robo vanished, leaving me and Tikal behind in the dining hall.

"You wanna help me prepare, Tikal?"

"Oh, I'd love to! It does smell delicious. What kind of vegetables did Egg Robo use?"

"Pretty much all that was in the fridge, as well as some chicken and beef cutlets. Uh, you aren't like a vegan, are you?"

"Charmy, I'm a pacifist, but that doesn't mean I don't eat meat. Of course I do! But of course, I do prefer fruits and vegetables... that doesn't mean in picky though!"

"Well, I just feel you'll like it! Even if I wanted to make sure Egg Robo didn't try anything funny. I watched a movie once where a girl poisoned her friend with a soup and it looked scary. She was bleeding from her mouth and vomited-"

"Please, no more!" Tikal covered her ears. "I know you said that's a movie but that sounds too horrific!"

"A-Alright... I'm sorry..."

The echidna girl took a deep breath. "It's... it's fine. I just... murder and death I'd really like to not be on my mind at all."

"I understand... well, let's just serve the soup, okay?"

Counting out bowls for everyone, Tikal and I took a soup ladle and prepared a bowl of hot soup and placed it onto a tray. Tikal took the first tray out, and I took the second. When I arrived in the dining hall, I saw that everyone was sitting down.

"Gee, are you guys that hungry?" I asked.

"Of course we are! You don't just promise us food and not expect us to take it!" Jet replied.

I moved closer to the table. "I'm surprised, I thought vegetable soup isn't your thing."

"What? I don't always eat junk, y'know!"

"So he says," Wave muttered.

"I'M JUST HERE FOR THE FOOD!" Fleetway yelled.

Placing the tray down, everyone grabbed a bowl and got started with eating. I took my spoon and got enough broth and vegetables onto it, placing it into my mouth and swallowing. Thankfully, I was right to make sure Egg Robo didn't pull anything funny. The soup tasted fine, and actually was really tasty. I didn't expect him to be a good cook, but this soup may have been the best I've tasted.

...sorry, mom.

It didn't take long for everyone to eat their soup (Jet and Fleetway were first since they had a 'who can eat their soup faster' contest), and when they did, there was an aura of satisfaction in the room.

"Man, that was a great-ass, soup," Vector said, using a toothpick.

"Indeed. The perfect blend of meat and vegetable to make something very healthy... I wouldn't mind having more in the future," Espio added.

"Yeah, it was really good!" Tikal smiled. There were more general compliments about the soup, but I was just happy to have something at least slightly different.

"AS GOOD AS A BEE CAN MAKE IT!" Fleetway yelled again.

"...is that an insult?"

Of course, what didn't change was that everyone left their bowls on the table, leaving me with kitchen duty. After picking everything up, I was buzzing towards the sink when I heard a voice.

"Yo."

I turned around to find... Jet.

"Huh? Jet? What are you doing here?"

"Gee, you sure sound surprised! What, like I can't hang around?"

"You only 'hang around' whenever you're in the mood to insult someone."

"Yeah yeah, hey, Wave asked me to help you out with those dishes, so I might as well do so. So move aside! It's your lucky day cause I'm gonna help you!"

I was actually shocked to see that Jet was being SOMEWHAT nice... even if Wave told him to do so. Sure enough, I moved out of the way to let Jet by as we got started. Jet washed the dishes while I dried them with a rag. We made a bit of small talk here and there, but we mainly focused on getting our task done. Around five minutes later, we were all done.

"Thanks for your help, Jet," I said. "It meant a lot!"

"Eh, no problem."

While he was here though...

"Hey, did you wanna hang out?"

"With a dork like you? I mean, you're already here, so it's not like I have anything else better to do."

Jet got on the counter as I buzzed up next to him, both of us talking about the future of the zone.

"You think you're gonna survive?" I asked.

"Tch, of course! I said that the Babylon Rogues stick together, didn't I? Once we get out of a tight spot... we're gonna get out of it together like we always do! If anything, with how small you are, I'm surprised no one's offed you yet!"

…thanks, Jet.

Did he really deserve a present from all the times he's treated me though? I mean, I GUESS I could get on his good side. Rummaging through my pockets, I found a video from almost twenty years ago of some EX Gear grand prix. Figured this would be something he liked.

"Whoa hey!" Jet said as I handed him the cassette. "This is a recording of the 776 M.D. Mobius Grand Prix! It's SUPER hard to find recordings of this! How... how did you get this?!"

"I uh... got it from the Zone Store?"

"Huh, so that's why you're always in there! Maybe I should actually start going there myself. I can't believe I'm gonna say this but... thank you."

I didn't know HOW I made Jet happy but... I'm glad to see it worked!

"Hey, Charmy! You ever rode an Extreme Gear before?"

"An EX gear?"

I remember ALWAYS asking for one every Christmas but my parents never got me it. That's why usually I was riding my friend's gear when I went to their house, jealous that I couldn't have anything as cool as that. Dad always told me I wasn't 'responsible enough' to use one, and Mom said I was the type of person who'd fall every time I used one. Didn't stop me from riding one though.

"Uh... no," I shook my head. "If you meant like, OWN one, I never did. Usually I rode my friend's gears, and they'd maybe only let me for like a couple of minutes."

Jet sucked his teeth. "Man, that's so lame! You're such a pansy! Only cool cats have EX Gears!"

"Gee, can we maybe cool it with the insults? Sorry my parents never let me have one despite asking for one every year."

"Huh, well that can't be helped! You just don't realize the greatness of EX Gears! Asking for one every year... it ain't a toy you know!"

"I know it isn't I just... I was jealous everyone who had them."

"Save the jealousy, bee! Those EX Gears aimed to the kiddies are SO bad! Now, the ones the Babylon Rogues use are special custom ones made by Wave! She finds the best parts she can scrape together, give her an hour or two, and bam! She's made our gears ten times better than they could ever be!"

"How fast is your gear?"

"Oh, at max about 177 miles per hour! Those crappy branded EX Gears only go up to 143! I mean, how lame is that?!"

"Isn't that illegal to have something that fast against EX Gears so slow?"

"You make it seem like everyone I go against has those crappy boards! No you idiot! In the big leagues, we all customize it! It's just Wave is the only person who knows the best parts to add! She ain't a mechanic for nothing! Here, tell you what: If you can manage being on my EX Gear, then I'll give you lessons! Oh, but don't expect it to be free of charge! If you wanna be a choosing beggar, forget about it!"

"I... I see... well, I GUESS that would sound fun."

"Heh, now you see! And maybe if you do get better, which you totally won't by the way, we'll race!"

Even in spite of the insults being thrown, I could sense Jet's passion as we definitely got a little closer today. After the hawk and I talked a little more, he left the kitchen as I got finished up with cleaning up the mess I made.

* * *

After spending the rest of today not really doing much, I heard the nighttime announcement play back in my room. There wasn't much reason to stay up and overthink about things. I felt... admittedly good about the future. I mean, our motive was dumb, and even if Jet and Fleetway are squabbling, I had full confidence that nothing was gonna happen.

...at least, I hope.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Happy day! You might be wondering: why in the world am I celebrating today? Because I want to celebrate the dawn of every new day! Every new day deserves a celebration! Like, imagine if you had sweets in class cause it was Friday and the weekend! That's like... almost 20 Fridays where you can have sweets! How amazing is that?! So once again... happy day!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	21. Chapter 3 (Daily Life 4 & 5)

**(AN: Welcome back to the last two Daily Lives of Chapter 3! I'm so sorry for making this one late! This chapter was a lot longer than I expected it to be, but I promise that the next Deadly Life won't be AS long to let you guys take a breather! When we last left off, Sonic went super saiyan but at least is... somewhat nice? And made a certain bet with another mean hawk, one Jet the Hawk! How will this go? And will someone finally rid Silver of his ghost fear? Read and find out!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo was cleaning up his desk, getting ready to leave for the day when his student, also Egg Robo, came rushing into his classroom._

 _"Mr. Egg Robo! We need to talk!"_

 _The student ran over to the teacher, grabbing the collar of his suit and tugging it hard. "I don't like myself, Mr. Egg Robo! I don't have any hobbies or skills to take pride in! My grades are average, and I'm not an athlete or even a weakling! This is why I don't like myself!"_

 _The student Egg Robo began to cry. "I've figured it out all out, Mr. Egg Robo! My life was all copied and pasted, wasn't it?! Like, as I'm speaking, someone's probably filling in what I have to say by just plagiarizing! Doesn't that sound like something that'd happen to me?! I'm just a copy without imagination or SOUL!"_

 _Shaking, the student Egg Robo buried his face into his teacher's chest, the teacher not saying or doing anything. "That's the truth, teach... isn't it?..."_

* * *

In truth, I didn't even realize it until it happened...

I woke up before the morning announcement came on.

Normally, I'm not really what you'd call an early bird. Having to get up at 6:30 each morning to head out to my zone? No thank you. I guess in the context of THIS place though, I didn't mind it. There was really no class, no responsibility (well, other than the whole killing thing), and most of all, I had a comfy bed that let me wake up at a time like this and STILL feel great.

"Maybe I'll take a shower and stay there until the morning announcement..." I said to myself, buzzing towards the bathroom.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents...**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Despair Hill Zone Act 2**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 4**

As I made my way to the dining hall, the usual set of people were there. Silver, Blaze, Big, Espio, and Tikal. I even saw Jet there, only just by himself. However, I saw no Vector, Amy, or Sonic... or I guess Fleetway now. Blaze even pointed that out to me as I sat down next to Espio.

"Maybe Vector's still on guard duty?" Silver asked. "I mean, it would make sense and maybe he just overslept. He seems like the type who'd do that if he doesn't get his coffee early... I've seen him drink it pure black!"

"Sonic I'm not sure about, but Vector? Now that is a little worrying," Espio said. I could hear Jet suck his teeth.

"Maaan, who gives a flying fuck about that little gold shit? He can go bugger himself for all I care."

"Jet? You don't have to get so mad..." Tikal said, putting down her yogurt cup.

"They're rivals in love! I could even come up with a good story title for them! How about uh... Speed and Wind-" Silver said before Jet cut him off.

"Shut it, you! I'd rather be caught dead than have my tongue down his throat! Besides, probably be around him for longer than five minutes and I feel like you'd get into chastity!"

"From the sounds of it, sounds like you already have that fetish..."

"Wait, can you really catch it?!" Tikal asked. "And... what even is chastity?"

...most of us looked at Tikal. Oh, I hope she NEVER finds out.

"What? Was it something I said?"

"...nevermind," Jet shook his head. "Besides, pacifist girl... why shouldn't I? I know that he's already talking to Tails, and now that he has to uphold his part of the bet, he's gonna go kill someone! And then we'll let Charmy find out the truth and there we go! The bet is as good as won!"

"P-Please don't joke about that! I couldn't even imagine Sonic doing that..."

"With how he was before? Heh, I bet that was an act!"

Seeing as how Jet wouldn't cool down, I got up from my seat, made my way to the kitchen, and came back with a steak biscuit and a milk. Before I could even get one bite in...

"KYEHAHAHAHAAAAAA!"

Oh Gaia no.

The doors to the dining hall burst opened, and sure enough, her murderess self, Rosie the Rascal, was standing in the doorway.

"So, it's you, Rosie," Espio said. I could see him inch his hand closer to a pouch on the left side of his waist. Just then though... Fleetway came in.

"YO YOU GUYS! HOW'S THE FUCKING BREAKFAST?!" he yelled.

"Oh, screw off! I don't need you yelling this early!" Jet yelled.

"You!" Fleetway pointed at Jet. "It seems like you wanna act like you're not gonna lose! Hah! I've been spending my time with Rosie! I have new found respect for THIS crazy girl."

Rosie laughed hysterically again. "OH, ISN'T HE PERFECT?! My darling Sonikku is already the most perfect man even! At the rate things are going, we're DEFINITELY gonna be a couple once we leave here! KYEHAHAHAHAAA!"

"Which begs the question... why did you two appear at the same time?" Tikal asked.

"I'll give you a hint, Tinkle... I'm not wearing undergarments today!"

Wow thanks, I REALLY didn't need to hear that. Everyone at the table felt the same too. I could see Big getting green in the face, Jet sticking his tongue out, and Tikal praying for our souls in 'the face of such indecency'.

"I never even told her to do such a thing and yet she did it just for me! Isn't she nice?!" Fleetway said. I didn't know if he was completely ignorant or just plain stupid. As the two got closer to our table, Rosie breezed over to Tikal.

"You... it seems like you haven't taken my advice when it comes to your melons! Like, stick them in MILK you S.O.B!"

Tikal covered her chest, clearly embarrassed. "Pl-Please! That's enough! I don't know what's your obsession with my chest but it's frankly demeaning!"

"Oh come on, girly! I'm just giving you womanly advice! I mean, I was able to make my Darling Sonikku happy! You should be able to do that too!"

"I assume you're here for a reason," Blaze sighed. "So? What is it?"

"Who's the one that challenged my Darling Sonikku?!"

We all pointed at Jet, who's eyes widened when he realized what everyone was doing.

"So... it was YOU!" Rosie held out her hammer, pointing it straight at Jet. "Let's get one thing clear right NOW you piece of undercooked chicken! No one should even DARE get in the way of my Darling Sonikku!"

"Alright, alright! I won't touch your 'darling Sonikku'!" Jet pushed the hammer away, mocking Rosie's tone. "Gaia, I swear you all have been just shit to deal with..."

"I MEAN IT, BIRD! If I find out that you've won that bet... I'LL KILL YOU FOR ALL THAT MONEY TO MAKE ME A PLUSHIE OF MY DARLING!"

"...please, you make me wanna vomit all over you more and more."

"Well, with that I think I'm gonna head out!" Fleetway said. "And as for you..."

"You wanna finally let me carry your babies?!" Rosie asked in an excited tone.

"Tch, hell no! I'd never be caught DEAD WITH KIDS!"

Fleetway burst out of the room as Rosie's dress breezed. "Think he can run away, eh? Well, looks like he wants to play hard to get! HERE COMES MY LOVE MY DARLING! KYEHAHAHAAAA!"

Rosie bolted it out of the room as I saw Tikal rub her eyes. "It's too early in the morning for this," she said. "Those two might be the death of me."

"Never thought I'd agree with you there, pacifist girl," Jet added.

* * *

We all finished breakfast soon after, where Wave and Storm eventually joined after we were almost done. After the debacle with Fleetway and Rosie, those two at least were a nice change of pace. I still was worried about Vector though... where could he be?

By the time I returned to my room, I still didn't have an answer as to where he would be. What I did know is that... it's been rather quiet for the past few days. A little... too quiet.

I looked around in my room and shrugged. "Eh, guess we all know how stupid that motive is."

 **FREE TIME**

After getting up from my bed and heading out the door, I could see Storm walking down the hall, flipping an EggRing. I'll be honest... I didn't probably have the best kind of relation with Storm, and I bet there's a lot I don't know about him. So, puffing my chest out and praying internally that he wouldn't punch me, I made my way over to the albatross.

"Hey Storm!" I said. He surprisingly wasn't startled, but I could see the ring fall to the ground.

"Oh, come on, bee! You ruined my record! I had about 53 flips since I started! Now I gotta start it all over again!" Storm complained, looking VERY angry at me. He began to crack his knuckles. "You dunno what kind of pain you're gonna get yourself in!"

"L-L-Look! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you or stop you from breaking your record! I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out!" I covered my face. As long as he just hit me straight in the forehead and not in the face, hopefully I should be fine.

"Are you REALLY sorry or do you wanna beg for your LIFE?!"

...okay maybe I'm NOT as safe as I thought.

Before he could throw a punch, Storm stopped, let go of my collar, and let his punching arm down. "Eh... you're right kid. I guess I shouldn't be actin' like this, should I? S-Sorry..."

I guess the rumors and what came out of Storm's mouth was true. He really was the nicest of the three Rogues.

"W-What were you asking? Y-You wanted to hang out?" Storm twiddled his fingers.

"Y-Yeah, of course! Are you down!"

"U-Uh, sure! I don't mind! Just... try to not let the boss see you."

"Where is he right now?"

"I think he said somethin' 'bout the third floor? Probably the rec room if I had to ask?"

"Did you wanna hang out there? If you want, I can check if he's there or not."

"Oh, you can? That'd be helpful! Yeah, I don't think the boss would like it if I interacted with you."

* * *

Sure enough, there was no Jet in the rec room when I checked, and there was no Jet when Storm and I entered. That's why we spent some time playing mancala, where, after spending about ten minutes reading the rules and wishing I had my phone so we could make sense of this game, I was able to win.

"Oh come on! No fair!" Storm complained. "I hate this game!"

"Storm, we've only played it once and I won. How could you already hate it?" I asked.

"I just... I just do!"

"Do... you wanna try it again and hope that you win?"

"Of course! Who do you take me as?!"

Sure enough, Storm won our second round, and he got up from his chair and danced in place. I guess it wasn't a surprise that the Rogues REALLY didn't like losing at all. Still though, getting to play with Storm and knowing him a little bit better made me feel like I got a little closer to him. Fiddling around my pockets, I knew I had a present for him.

"Oh hey, you collect those too?" Storm asked.

"Collect? No no, I give them as presents for people!"

"Oh... is that what they were for? Man, and I could have been giving them all to the boss!"

"Speaking of presents..."

I handed Storm a pair of spiked bracelets.

"I feel like these match your style!"

Storm grabbed the bracelets, placing them onto his wrist. He admired how they look.

"Hey bee! How do I look?" he asked. I gave him a thumbs up.

"Like a true bodyguard!"

"Heh! Now I sure look like someone you can't mess with! Thanks bee!"

Even if he was a BIT of a sore loser and kind of a bully at times... it made me happy to know that I was able to make Storm's day!

"You know..." I began. "Speaking of bodyguarding, how is it like being a body guard?"

"Well, the thing about bein' a bodyguard is... you gotta protect the person you're assigned to protect at all cost! One simple mistake and something could go wrong! Like, someone comes after them wanting to fight... or worse yet, someone wants to fire a gun!"

"You say that like it's happened..."

"Oh, once it has! I was assigned to bodyguard a political guy and some guy tries to kill him! Thankfully, since I was there, I was not only able to get the guy but also chokehold him until he passed out. It was there that I thanked taking all those wrestling classes in spite of my teacher being annoying!"

"S-Seriously? That's amazing! But... weren't you scared? I mean, if a guy has a gun..."

"I see your concern but... why should I be worried? I'm the Ultimate Bodyguard after all. That's what I do best! Protecting the people as much as possible! That's what I've done all my life you know!"

"Oh right... I read online that you came from a circus family. How'd you become a bodyguard?"

"Oh that... uh..."

Before Storm could reply, we could hear someone from down the hall.

"STORM! STORM!"

"Uh oh, that sounds like the boss!" Storm said, turning around and running in place. "Look, no time to chat now, bee kid! How 'bout I tell you the rest later, okay?"

I nodded as Storm ran out of the rec room, yelling 'I'M ON MY WAY BOSS!' as I heard his loud footsteps stomp down the hall. For extra measure, I made sure to hide behind one of the seats to make sure Jet wouldn't find me. After about five minutes of hiding, I concluded that they weren't coming, and made my way out of the rec room and back to my room.

* * *

It was around lunchtime, and I was getting a bit hungry. As I was heading out of my room, I closed the door behind me and turned around to find Rosie's disturbing smile in front of my face. Needless to say, I screamed loudly and very effeminately.

"Geez, did I scare you that bad?!" Rosie questioned. "Never mind that!"

"Lemme guess, is it your Darling?"

"See, I would say that but that would start to feel predictable, wouldn't it? But nope! It's not about him! See, I know stinky pinky REALLY likes sweets and tragically, I hate them! And yet, that side of me really wants some! Tell me, Chimcharm! Where the hell is ANYTHING sweet?!"

At least it was a normal question this time.

"Try the warehouse, they have plenty of sweets there."

"AWESOOOOOME!" Rosie began to hysterically laugh. "Now that goody-two shoes Amy can calm down with her sweet craving cause I wanna stay out some more!"

"AT LEAST TAKE THE WRAPPING OFF FIRST!" I yelled as Rosie began to run down the hall. I shook my head, wondering why I sometimes bothered to even talk to her. With her out of the way, I finally made my way to the dining hall. Thankfully, there was still plenty of soup from yesterday, so I decided to have some alongside some fruit and some chips. Just as I was about to take my tray of food from the kitchen to the dining hall, someone came in. Looking up, I found it was Storm.

"Oh, hey Storm!" I said.

"No time to talk, bee! The boss is getting hungry!" he replied. "Let's see... I could give him a chicken sandwi-… actually no, that would be messed up givin' a bird that. Not even I would eat that."

"What are you looking for?"

"I dunno what the boss wants!"

"Huh?"

"Usually the boss tells me what to get him and I get it quickly! But he didn't tell me anything this time! At least Wave told me what she wanted!"

"Well, what does Jet like?"

"Stuff he probably shouldn't be eating especially for the kind of sports he does."

"Oh yeah, how can he eat that much unhealthy food and yet still look good?"

"Are you hitting on the boss?"

"Well no, I just said... well, you know what I mean! He's rather lean and looks in tip top shape! Like, he could eat three full course meals and still somehow survive!"

"Actually, you gotta point right there! I've never really heard of him gaining weight like that... I blame it on the metabolism. Wave gets on him a lot, but I think it's because she tries her best to stay healthy. Unlike the boss, she isn't blessed with the same thing he is!"

"And what about you?"

"I eat pretty much anything! I'm not the kinda guy who would have some like, elaborate diet plan. If anything, I think kinda going for what powerlifters do is more my kinda style. Course, I always was kinda strong to begin with so-"

"Wait a minute, didn't you say you were gonna tell me about your circus family?"

"Well... I dunno, kid! The boss is PRETTY hungry, and he's the type to get cranky when he's hungry."

"So's my dad! Come on, pleaaaaase?"

Storm sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright! It's not THAT special."

"I know it's just... getting to know people here is always exciting because they all have their own past lives and everything. Besides, we dunno if either today or tomorrow we could die."

"Don't joke about that or I won't tell you!"

"Fine fine, I'll be a good little Charmy. I just couldn't really get what you cut yourself off with in the rec room out of my head. So, what's the backstory? You trained at a waterfall for seven years and also went to a dojo?"

"You're confusing me with the ninja shorty! My story ain't like that! It's just... well, as I'm sure you seem to know, I came from a circus family. As a kid, I KINDA didn't really know my strength very well. Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for me to rip doorknobs off or to leave holes in the walls. Ma always told me that by the age of five, I could chuck a giant rock like it was a pebble. And then the thing that made me super popular happened. My closing show at the age of seven, pushing a two-ton slab of concrete and then a zone bus. That's what pretty much made me popular."

I did remember reading about that online. Were those the only things though?

"Looks like you think those were the only ones. Nope! Until I was eleven, I was pretty much the star of my parent's circus! I was lifting and pushing everything you can imagine. I was even getting calls from strongmen and bodybuilding competitions, even some muscle magazines about how I'm doing it. And then came the thing that changed it all. It was during one of our rehearsals, basically someone came in, wanting to see my dad. Turns out, it wasn't for business reasons. Instead, they wanted to rob us."

Storm continued. "Now, I was out getting ready in the back and completely unaware of what was going on. It wasn't until one of our performers, who had seen everything, told me what was going on and to stay here cause they had my ma and pa. But I didn't wanna stay there! I took a secret route out of the circus, and was able to go around to the entrance to find them takin' ma and pa out to a car. And before they could even put them in, I came rushing in and elbow tackled the guy to the ground! A bunch of his goons just watched as their leader was on the floor knocked down by this gigantic eleven-year-old. And I just remember looking down on him and telling him, 'If you wanna take down my circus, you'll have to get past me first'. And that guy just ran away!"

He then smiled. "I remember all these news organizations interviewing me, callin' me a hero. But after that, EVERYONE wanted me as a bodyguard and that kinda led me to where I am now. I didn't wanna at first, as I felt bad leaving ma and pa, as well as everyone back in the circus, but they told me that this was my big opportunity. So while I did get paid to do this stuff, I made sure I used the money to help the circus, even if I couldn't perform all the time. And then ma and pa revealed my Babylonian lineage, and I met the boss and Wave and... heh heh, you get the point, bee!"

"That's... a really powerful story, Storm," I said. "That must have taken a lot of guts, and yet you managed to do it."

"I mean, it's no big deal! I liked doin' the bodyguard thing, but being with the boss and Wave matters to me more than that! I'll always be their protectors!"

Seeing Storm's passion right now... I could tell that the three rogues had a relationship deeper than I ever imagined. I didn't know what to do, but before I could do or say anything...

"THERE you are!"

Jet's squawking voice came into the room. "I've been looking for you, Storm! You know I'm hungry! Where's my lunch?!"

He then looked at me. "And what do you THINK you're doing here?!"

"I-I-I... He just wanted to talk to me, boss!" Storm said.

"Talk to you? He should know better that us Babylonians aren't on the same level he is!"

"Weren't you nice to me yesterday? Like, what happened to that?" I asked.

"That was yesterday! This is now! And I'm saying that your little convo with Storm is done!"

With that, Jet hurried Storm up as the albatross got lunches for his team. The two left, leaving me behind with my now cold soup on my tray. Even in spite of my interruption... I feel like I got to know a lot more about Storm today.

* * *

After enjoying my lunch and leisure time, hoping that in some eventual future we'd have a class so we could have SOMETHING to do, it was getting closer to dinner time. Wondering what I could make today, I stopped when I noticed a note by the foot of my door.

"Huh?" I asked, buzzing over to it. Picking up the note, I read its short message.

 _"Meet me in the dining hall!"_

I was confused but also worried. I knew this was the PERFECT opportunity for someone to try and draw me out to come and kill me. Still though, I couldn't help but notice how neat the handwriting was. If they put time and effort into a note, why would they wanna do something like that?

I shook my head. "No no! I can't take any chances! Thank goodness that I nabbed this!"

Buzzing over to my nightstand, I opened it up and brought out a pan I stole from the kitchen yesterday. Egg Robo didn't complain about me taking it so... I assumed it was fair game?

Holding onto the handle of the pan, I made my way out of my room and looked around. I could see no one in the hallway, and I made sure to look left and right constantly. My hands shook and my palms sweat as I buzzed closer and closer to the dining hall. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that the pan in my hand was the only thing keeping me safe. When I arrived, I saw no one in the dining hall. To say that my nervousness went up tenfold was an understatement.

"Hello?" I called out, looking around.

"Oh, you came!"

"AAAAAARGH!" I screamed, holding out my pan up high and rushing towards the voice.

"YO WHOA WHOA WHOA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I looked up to see Silver cowering in fear, covering his face.

"S-Silver... this is... this isn't what it-"

"You were... trying to kill me?!"

"N-NOOO! I just... I thought someone was trying to kill ME!"

"Why would I kill you?"

"I dunno I... wait, what did you say?"

"I said why would I kill you, man?! I was the one who wrote you the letter!"

I dropped my pan. "Oh... uh... well, this is awkward. I thought you were out to kill me."

"And suffer one of those executions? No thanks! You were seconds away from causing another one!"

I coughed, covering my mouth with my hand. "Let's just... forget this ever happened and call it an honest mistake, okay?"

Silver nodded. "Yeah, LET'S..."

"We-Well, if you wanna topic change, I like your handwriting! It's really neat!"

"Aw, thanks. I always believe that if you have sloppy handwriting, a ghost will come out and consume your soul."

"Who taught you that?"

"Some guy who sold me a bad spirit charm when I was in the sixth grade! ...let's just say my parents weren't too pleased about the price."

That explains WAY too much.

"Anyway, why did you wanna meet with me, Silver?" I buzzed and sat down on one of the tables.

"Oh, Vector asked me to!"

"Vector?"

"I'm being an errand boy on this. He wanted me to know if we wanted to take a bath?"

"You mean a proper one where we're not creeping on girls?"

"Oh, don't act like you didn't do it!"

I shut up. He got me there, and I knew karma would come back to bite me.

"Anyway, let's go!"

Before I could even protest, Silver dragged me by my hand as I was left speechless. Before we entered the bathhouse, the white hedgehog whispered into my ear.

 _"It's all an act so the mastermind won't notice. Everyone's waiting in the bathroom."_

What? This must mean that Ditz may have finished its search! Now I was getting excited.

"Alright, let's do this!" I said, ecstatic. We entered inside to find everyone inside the dressing room like Silver had said. The first thing to greet me was...

"YOU! How long were you gonna keep us waiting?!" Fleetway pointed at me. He pointed at his wristwatch and kept pressing his finger on it. "Look! It's almost 10! It's almost time for your bedtime, little boy!"

"Tch, shut up..." Jet muttered under his breath. Fleetway turned around and grabbed Jet's collar.

"What'd you say? You want me to make you cry?! You GOT it!"

Storm cracked his knuckles. "If you wanna make the boss cry, you gotta get past me!"

"Out of the way, oaf! This is between me and tonight's main dish here!"

Wave rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Sonic is worse off than I thought. Maybe it is a good thing. Perhaps for once he can stop being insufferable."

"And you gotta lotta SHIT fallin' out of that mouth of yours!"

"Excuse me?! Perhaps you don't really know WHO you're dealing with here, do you?!"

"Guys stop, this isn't what we should be doing!" Amy said, getting in between Fleetway and the Babylon Rogues. "Besides, I know my Darling Sonic will come around!"

"For the 54th time... I'm NOT SONIC!" yelled Fleetway.

"Oh, you're back to your normal peppy self? It's hard to keep track at this point," Blaze said.

Amy looked embarassed. "I... oh hush! I wanna be out more but she just refuses to listen..."

"ANYWAYYYY," Silver said loudly. "My duty as messenger is done!"

"So," began Espio. "You wanted us all to meet here, Vector? What seems to be the issue?"

"Isn't it obvious? It has to do with Ditz!"

"That's right!" Tikal said, hands together. "Did they find a clue? A way out? Even the mastermind's true identity?"

Vector looked at all of us, frowned, and shook his head. "No."

He walked over to the locker that Ditz was in, opened it up, and...

There was no laptop.

"It's gone," he said. I turned my head.

"Gone?"

"I came here a lil' earlier to check up on things. That's when I discovered that Ditz, was gone."

"What?!"

"Oh no!" Big placed his hands on his cheeks.

"No way!" Tikal said, horrified. "Are... are you joking, Vector?!"

Vector looked on the floor and closed his eyes. From that gesture, I knew what he wanted to say. I could hear the panic in our voices as we looked around.

"Whaddya mean she's gone?!" Jet angrily asked.

"You can't be serious!" Fleetway added. He then pointed at Jet. "YOU! It was YOU wasn't it?! I told you that you couldn't take your grubby little fingers off Ditz! Come on! You lost the bet! Pay up!"

"As if I ever lose, you twat! I wouldn't kill for those rings, nor would I ever give you a single RING from my personal savings!"

"Keep lying to cover your ass and we'll see who wins!"

"As if you didn't take it! Maybe THAT'S why you're accusing me!"

Blaze, ignoring the two, walked in front of the locker. "Do you think it was perhaps the mastermind? Did they finally notice what we were up to?"

"Nope," Vector replied. "I told Ditz to yell should ANYONE he didn't recognize appear. If it was the mastermind, I wouldda known cause Ditz shouldda yelled."

"Maybe we just missed it?" Tikal asked.

"I was in the laundry room all day, making sure I heard everythin'. There's no way I couldda missed it."

"But, if it wasn't the mastermind, then-" I said before Jet cut me off.

"It's Mr. Goldie right there! Accusing me of taking it, and yet he has more of a connection to it than I do!"

"I'm a star hero! Why would I do something like STEALING?!"

"Not an Ultimate Hero though..." Tikal said. Both Fleetway and Jet ignored her.

"You're the suspicious one here, birdie! One little glint of gold and you're already drooling at the mouth!"

Jet continued the two getting into their faces. "Acting like you've known me me whole life, huh? Well here's something you need to understand: I. DON'T. LOSE. **GOT IT?!** "

"You might not lose, but with the thing you love the most? Of course you will!"

Silver, attempting to defuse the situation, spoke up. "Well I'm sure it was ONE of you. So whoever did it, just speak up!"

"Yeah!... I don't like it when you guys fight..." Big said, ears flopping down.

"No."

We all looked at Vector, who suddenly said this. He continued, "I dun think either one of them did it."

"Why not?"

"I also told Ditz somethin' else too. To yell if either Fleetway or Jet came into the bathhouse period."

Fleetway's eyes lowered. "What?!"

"I figured that yeh two couldn't probably keep yer hands offa it, but I guess my threat actually registered into yer minds. At least ya know that when someone says no, they mean no."

"I never heard any yell though," Blaze said.

"Exactly. Which means our thief isn't them."

"Then who was it?" Silver asked.

"Wave, what do you think?" Jet asked. "Can't you like develop some kinda GPS thing?"

Wave walked in the middle of our little circle, first addressing Jet. "First, I'd actually need the parts to make it. When we find a GPS tracker here, you let me know. Second, I think everything's a little clearer now, no? Not the mastermind, not Jet or Fleetway, then I think it's simple. Our thief is someone else. Charmy, Blaze, Silver, Espio, Big, Tikal, Amy, Storm, or even myself. One of us must be the thief."

"No! Why would any one of us want to steal Ditz?!" Tikal questioned. Big nodded his head.

"Yeah!... Like what Ms. Tikal the Echidna said!... Mr. Vector the Crocodile said not to take Ditz... so I did what he said!..."

"Hm... it seems that you all might not be convinced," Wave added. She proceeded to close her eyes. "Okay, how's this for a reason? There's a traitor among us."

When we heard this, some of us grew wide eyed as we all took a few steps back.

"Oh, don't be scared. You heard me. I believe that one of us here is working for the mastermind as a spy. And I think that's the one that stole Ditz. Can any of you deny the possibility?"

"I can!" I said. "I mean, a spy? Really?!"

"It's not that shocking of an idea, shorty. In fact, I've been considering that idea for a while, I mean, think about it: the mastermind brought in someone to help keep things running smoothly."

I just shook my head. The idea that there was some kinda spy, no... a traitor... It seemed impossible. Something that horrible...

"You all seem so silent. It's almost like you think it can't happen."

"Wave," Jet said. "That's enough... I think... the most important thing we can do is find Ditz. I don't care who did it. Just... let's let that be our mission. We can focus on other things later."

I could see the surprise in Wave's face. "Jet... are you... being a leader?"

"S-So what if I am?!"

Then I saw something I never saw Wave do: genuinely smile. "Ha, then it seems like you finally took my advice to heart."

Storm hugged Jet. "Alright, boss! We're gonna do this mission, and solve it!"

Just then, we saw and heard Fleetway sobbing. "S-Same here, birdie... How many times to they gotta kill Tails before they're satisfied? I'll beg until I turn seventy just... bring Tails back!"

Tikal looked at the ground. "This is quite a predicament but... I understand their pain. I feel Ditz is so important to all of us now. Whether or not there is a traitor... we can deal with that later. For now... let's find our friend."

"If ya had to ask me," Vector said. "I think Ditz is safe fer now."

"You bring up a good point," Blaze added. "If they wanted to destroy Ditz, then they would have done it here."

"It's almost like someone has Ditz, or someone genuinely misplaced it," Espio said.

"Th-that doesn't matter!" Fleetway cried. "Nothing e-else matters... No matter what it takes, I'm gonna get DITZ AND TAILS BACK!"

"That's right... Wave, Storm, as your leader, I command that we find Ditz!" Jet proclaimed.

I could see happiness in Wave and Storm's faces, almost as if they've been waiting for Jet to take his responsibility as Babylon Rogue leader seriously. Just then...

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The nighttime announcement played on the monitor as Tikal rubbed her arm. "It seems like its nighttime."

Blaze shook her head. "Well, there is nothing to be done. It's unfortunate, but I think we take tomorrow to begin our search for Ditz. We should get some sleep first."

"We don't have time to wait around! It's not like Egg Robo is gonna care if we're still up!" Jet said.

"What good are you if you're too tired, Jet? You will be ready to lead your group after a good night's rest."

"Who gives a crap about effective here?! We're talking about our FEELINGS here!" Fleetway yelled. Blaze covered her ears.

"Jet, Fleetway, I dunno if ya realize this, but anythin' we do at night brings a higher chance of the mastermind noticin' us. If anythin', I think they expect us to kill at night when we're all sleepin' and can't hear noise. Haven't ya noticed that the two murders that occurred here happened at night?" Vector said. We all looked at each other, realizing that he had a point. "Blaze is right, we should begin our search tomorrow mornin'. Charmy, Espio, whaddya think?"

"M-Me?" I asked. "W-Well, I think if we were to begin our search tonight in a panic, the mastermind would definitely notice and get nosy."

"Likewise," Espio added. "More importantly, I think that if the laptop is stolen however, we should try to find any place where technology is abundant first. Oh, and before I forget... Fleetway and Jet. I know how you must feel, but please do endure one more night without Ditz."

Sonic, who had tears rolling down his eyes, shook his fists as all he did was throw his hands down in frustration. Jet simply looked at the chameleon.

"Fine fine, I understand."

Blaze smiled. "Very well then, let's part for today. We'll begin our search in the morning."

"And, as you all go to bed tonight..." Wave added. "You should all think about what I said. Someone COULD be a spy."

Geez, thanks for the sweet dreams...

However, none of us objected to what Wave said, as we walked back to our rooms. As I opened my door and locked it behind me, I simply rubbed my face.

Ditz... gone as quickly as it appeared. To think that we had a small measure of hope with what happened. But no... it was taken away from us, just like everything in this zone. I just didn't get it. It's like this zone was supposed to be a representation of everything evil. Bloodshed, suspicion, theft, so many examples and yet not enough time.

Why...

Why did I deserve this? WHAT did I do to deserve this? I thought I was someone who was your average Joe, not someone forced into a killing game with people I don't know.

And then, there's the possibility of a spy. Could it really be true? Could someone be deceiving us?

I didn't know what was worse, the fact that we're dealing with someone like that... or the fact that a friend is working behind our backs.

"Argh!" I took off my helmet and threw it at the wall. "It's not true!"

I wasn't aware of how loud I yelled. It wasn't like anyone could hear. I threw myself onto my bed as the lights shut off by themselves. I held my pillow up to my face like I did when I was a kid, afraid of the dark. Now, my biggest fear wasn't the dark like when I was a kid.

It was that we were doubting each other again.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Hey, I wanna ask... do you think this story is like a game? I mean, it feels like one, doesn't it? I ask this because isn't a big part of video games losing a life? Like, you fall down a hole, step on spikes, run into an enemy, and you die and lose a life! But everything is okay because you have an extra life! You might fall through the screen and die, but you'll still come back! However, what if that wasn't the case? What if instead of having scary music play when you game over, you just... don't come back? Do you see where I'm going with this? No? Eh, I never expected you to get symbolism anyway."_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

When I heard the morning announcement, I got up from my bed feeling... weird. I couldn't help but get this nagging feeling off of my shoulder. Maybe it was my imagination, but at the same time... I felt that something happened. I knew that we had to find Ditz today, so maybe that could have been it?

Regardless, I decided to skip the shower today and buzz on over to the dining hall. Making my way there, I found only six people there: Vector, Espio, Big, Tikal, Blaze, and Amy.

"Ah, good morning, Charmy," Espio said. "I'm glad to see you're joining us."

"Huh?" I was confused. "I thought there'd be more."

Vector was silent, almost as if he knew something was fishy.

"So, he got the same feeling I did..." I thought to myself.

"Many people are taking their sweet time today," Blaze said. "I don't mind, I much prefer the quiet. While we're waiting... Big? Have you perfected your milk tea, yet? I would care for one, please."

Big, not wanting to resist and face Blaze's anger, only nodded his head as he waddled off to the kitchen. Amy groaned as she slumped in her chair. "Geez, this is why I hate people taking their time! Like, I know people complain when I do it, but I at least spend time at MULTIPLE places instead of just staying in one place."

"Let's not fret everyone," Espio said. "We should just wait longer for the others."

So we decided to wait for everyone to show up. Seconds turned into minutes. Minutes turned into half an hour. And half an hour turned into an hour, and even though we all watched as Blaze drank her tea...

No one came.

"We've been waiting for an hour..." Tikal said. "And yet no one's come."

"I'm worried about Sonic..." Amy added. "Hey, stay here! I'll go see if he's in his room!" She ran out of the dining hall as I could hear the sound of her boots stomp down the hall. She then came back two minutes later, looking concerned.

"He... he didn't answer. He isn't cooped up in the library again, is he?"

"I doubt it," Vector said.

"So... what happened to him? People like Silver haven't missed a day but I'm super worried about Sonic and Jet. They were the most eager to look for Ditz after all."

"Damn, I forgot 'bout that motive too..."

"Huh?"

"Say, Vector..." I began. "Do you think Jet is the type of person to bet, or would be too stingy to admit defeat?"

"I think he would be the type to bet," Tikal said. "But how reckless... betting money like it's nothing when it can be used to help so much people..."

"If ya asked me..." Vector said. "The Babylonians, alongside being well known racers, do have a history of theft. Likely, that personal savin's Jet was mentionin', I dun think all of it was won from racers. In fact, what was his bet again?"

"One million rings."

"That's probably chump change to him. He could probably earn it back easily."

"So, do you think it was Jet who did it?"

"I still dun think so."

We looked at each other, still not sure what to do. Vector got up from the table and adjusted his hat. "I'm startin' to get convinced somethin' happened."

"What do you mean?"

"I was talkin' 'bout it earlier before yeh went and talked about Jet. I was so distracted by Ditz that I forgot Egg Robo gave us a motive. There's no way something couldn't have happened, especially with how so many people aren't here."

Before Vector could say anything else, someone came running in.

"GUYS! GUYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

Storm came into the dining hall, flailing his arms and taking deep breaths.

"Storm?!" I said. "What happened? Where were you?!"

"T-There's no time! I-It's an emergency!"

"Emergency?" Vector asked.

"Oh man... oh man oh man oh man! Wave's gonna really let me have it now when she finds out what happened!"

"Do calm yourself down, bird. Tell us what happened," Blaze said.

"I-It's... it's the boss! He's been kidnapped!"

We all got up from our chairs when he said this. Vector lowered his gaze and stood in front of the albatross.

"What do you mean?!" he said.

And so, as Tikal fetched Storm a bottle of water from the kitchen, we sat Storm down as he let us know what was going on.

"Okay so..." he began. "Me and the boss were taking a walk on the first floor around the time of the morning announcement since we both got up early. When we were about to reach the stairs of the second floor though, we saw this... thing..."

"What kind of thing?" Espio asked.

"It's... it's hard to describe, and honestly, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you about it."

"I'll believe you," Tikal took Storm's hand and smiled. Storm nodded.

"It was... someone in a robot suit. Only... the robot looked like that hedgehog!"

"Which one? Sonic, Amy, and Silver are the only three surviving hedgehogs."

"The blue one!"

"The robot looked like... my darling Sonic?!" Amy asked.

"I was scared cause I didn't know what to say, and then I took notice of what they had in their hand. It was this blue wrench! I was getting scared cause I thought they wanted to murder us, so I told the boss to make a run for it and get help while I took him on. That guy in the suit was really strong though... he was able to take me on, and before passing out, I saw Jet's feet being dragged and him yelling my name. Next thing you know, I wake up, passed out on the floor and with the wrench I was attacked with by my side. It said 'The Wrench of Power 1' on it too."

"The Wrench of Power?" I asked. It sounded like something you'd see in a video game.

"I also found Jet's camera, probably when he dropped it after getting abducted, so I took that and started to look for him on the different floors."

"Didn't ya take the wrench with ya?" Vector asked. "And why didn't ya come to us fer help?"

"I wanted to find the boss first! And... no, I left it on the floor. I was able to find Jet on the second floor being dragged, and I was able to take a picture. Even though it's kinda blurry... I went after them but... I dunno where they are now! That's why I came to you guys for help! Please! You gotta help me find the boss!"

Tikal looked up at us. "I know the Babylon Rogues haven't been nice to us, but likely this robotic Sonic has the intention of murder if they kidnapped Jet. We have to stop it before something happens to him, or anyone else!"

"But I'm scared..." Big said, ears flopping. "What if that robot is super strong?..."

"Ya gotta point," Vector said. "Alright, let's split up. The more of us that can cover ground, the higher the likelihood we can find Jet. If ya see this robot anywhere, run away. Dun even try to confront it."

"I understand," Espio nodded. "Thanks to my abilities, I should be able to sneak around and find the robot without being detected. If you don't mind..."

Espio held his hands together as he turned invisible, his footsteps trailing off as we all watched.

"Storm, ya got any idea where Jet might be?" Vector asked.

"I dunno!" he shrugged.

"Damn... alright, look through each floor! That's the closest we might get to finding him! If ya find him, make sure to help Jet and find a safe place fer him before callin' fer help."

"Got it! I'll look through the third floor!" Tikal said.

"Storm, mind helpin' me search the second floor?" Vector asked. Storm nodded.

"No prob!"

"Big, do help me with the dorms. You can be my bodyguard," Blaze said.

"Okay Ms. Blaze the Cat..."

"Charmy, Amy, ya got the-"

Before Vector could assign our role, someone came into the hall.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

Wave came strolling in from the laundry room, looking confused.

"Oh no! Oh no!" Storm panicked, trying to hide behind Vector and Big.

"Storm? What's going on?!"

"I... I didn't wanna tell you, Wave... I'm sorry!"

"Tell me... what?"

"T-The boss has been kidnapped!"

For the first time, I saw a look of terror on Wave's face. "W-What?... What do you MEAN he's been kidnapped?!"

And so, Vector and Storm gave a very abridged version of the story to Wave, who became more concerned as the story went on.

"Argh... why'd this have to happen?..." she said, holding her arm. "Alright, here's what we're gonna do. If this robot-Sonic is still out there like you said Storm, then there STILL is a chance that hopefully they didn't kill Jet. But if they did... then we're still not safe. Don't you remember? Egg Robo put that rule that we can kill up to two people."

"Oh, she's right! That means we have to stick together, right?" I asked.

"Exactly. Now, since the last you saw of Jet was on the second floor, let's head there. I recommend you keep your eyes peeled. You never know if that thing will come out."

And so, we all formed a circle and began to walk towards the first floor. I found myself squished in between Big and Amy, but I didn't mind.

Still though, I had to ask myself what was going on... A robot? Could one REALLY be behind all of this? I mean, how did a robot even GET in?! How was this robot built? And not even that...

What was going to happen from this?

* * *

When we reached the second floor, we continued to report no sign of this robot.

"Duncha think we shouldda found this robot by now?" Vector asked.

"T-This is the last place I saw the robot!" Storm replied. "Who knows where he could be now-"

We were suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone groaning coming from the library. Stopping in place, we heard a little closer only to hear the groaning sounding very... squawkish.

"I-It's the boss!" Storm said, getting out from the circle and running to the door. "Hang on boss! I'm coming!"

The albatross almost ripped the door off of its hinges as Wave followed behind. Our group followed suit and when we entered inside, we saw Wave and Storm beginning to lift up a definitely hurt Jet. The top of his head was bleeding, he looked very scuffed up with dirt and scratches over him, and even his beak definitely showed signs that he was hit by something hard.

"Gh... ahh!" Jet said, holding his side in pain as his teammates continued to hold him.

"Jet, hold still!" Wave said. "Tell me, what happened?!"

"Jet! Are you okay?" Tikal asked. "I'm glad to see you're still alive..."

"Like... argh... this?..." Jet said, letting a bit of blood drip from his head.

"How'd you get hurt?" Wave continued to ask. I saw from the corner of my eye Amy running off from our group and began to look for something to patch up the open wound.

"Did... Storm tell you?"

"That robot thing, right?"

"Yeah... Mecha S-Sonic is its name. After Storm passed out, the robot brought me here to the library where they tried to use... the wrench..."

Amy handed over a book to the green hawk, who placed it on his head and winced in pain. Storm looked around to the area where Jet's body was found, and uncovered a blue wrench.

"What... is this thing?" Wave asked. "I use wrenches all the time and I've never seen one like this."

"I think it might have been a custom one our culprit made," Blaze said.

"Custom?... How could he make a custom one?..." asked Big.

"Likely, they found something in this zone that could be used to make a wrench. How they got the time for it, I'm not sure. Wave? What are wrenches usually made of?"

"Usually with steel and bent in a certain manner to give it the look that all wrenches have. But this... this doesn't look like it was made from steel," the swallow replied. Storm handed her the wrench as she began to feel it. "In fact, I'd argue that the wrench was made out of... I'm not sure... I want to say perhaps marble or something? And then just spray-painted with the color blue to hide the material it was made from."

"Marble?" Vector asked. "Wait a minute, wasn't there marble in the art studio?"

"There was. And it seems like our culprit seems to be a good enough sculptor to not only make one, but TWO wrenches out of it."

"Hey, now that I mention it..." I said. "What does Mecha Sonic look like? Storm, didn't you take a picture of him with Jet's camera?"

"Oh, I did! Lemme get it out!" Storm dug through his pockets and brought out the green camera that I recognized from a few days ago. We all crowded around the albatross as he opened up the camera gallery. What we saw next was... hard to describe.

Jet had a terrified look of fear on his face as Mecha Sonic was dragging him in a chokehold position. For the first time as well, we got a look at our culprit. The robot was clearly designed after Sonic, however it had no face. It was just faceless, with a red visor on its forehead. Other than the multitude of blues, greys, and reds I saw... however this robot was built, it was clearly based on Sonic.

Which begged the question... where WAS he? I wanted to ask that question, but I knew Jet probably might get pissy, and most importantly, we had bigger fish to fry.

"That's yer guy?" Vector asked. Jet nodded.

"Y-Yeah, that's the one."

"It almost looks exactly like Sonic's height too," Tikal noted.

"Yeah, aren't you and Sonic the same height?" I asked. "I'm noticing here... the robot is just as tall as you!"

"Then why were you scared, Storm?"

"T-The wrench..." Storm said, twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh right... you mentioned something about a Wrench of Power one. Was it written somewhere? Could it have been the same one that attacked Jet?"

Wave examined the wrench again, and she shook her head. "Nope, not it pacifist girl. Take a look right here."

We all looked to where Wave was pointing. She then grabbed the wrench in question and showed us the phrase, 'The Wrench of Power 2".

"Hey, wait a minute!" I said. "Wasn't Storm attacked with the Wrench of Power 1?"

"Y-Yeah! I was!" the albatross replied. "Which means the boss musta been attacked with this!"

"Then the number's increasin'..." Vector said. "If we dun hurry, I'm startin' to think that anythin' after two could be enough to kill someone."

"Jet, where'd he hit you?" Wave asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Head..." Jet said, still in a daze.

"And you survived it?... that must have been a miracle that you did."

"Y-Yeah... even though I still feel... feel..."

Jet suddenly began to lose balance as Storm and Wave caught him before he could fall. Just then, a voice came from out of nowhere.

"Apologies for my late arrival."

Espio popped up in between us, eyes closed.

"Espio! Did you find anything?" I said.

"Nothing unfortunately. This robot must be a very good hider if even I couldn't find it. And... wait, Jet? What happened to you?"

"M-Mecha Sonic... hit me..."

"Mecha Sonic?"

"That's the name of our robot culprit apparently," Tikal said. "Although thank goodness you're here... I couldn't even imagine what would have happened had you been caught."

Just then, Egg Robo joined our group as well, laughing.

"Y-You! What are you doing here?!"

"Ho ho ho! A robot that looks like Sonic, eh? Now things are getting more exciting! What do you think it can do? Curl into a spiky metallic ball? Charge across a room? The possibilities are endless!"

Egg Robo vanished as Wave growled. "Why was he here?"

"Let's not concern ourselves with him," Blaze replied. "For now, Jet... I think you should head on over to the infirmary on the first floor."

"H-Hey... if it's not too much to ask," Tikal said. "Egg Robo mentioned how the robot looked like Sonic, right? Well, where is he? I haven't seen him all day."

I could sense the fear on everyone's faces as we all looked at each other.

"You don't think he's been kidnapped?..." Big asked.

"That is a possibility. Hm... we should try and figure out what to do from here," Espio replied. From the corner of my eye however, I saw Vector sneak out of the library completely quiet. I wanted to stop him, but I know he had a reason..

"Alright. Let's all head on down there. Wave, you got him?" Storm asked. The swallow nodded. "And boss... can you walk?"

"I'll... I'll try. Thanks you two..."

* * *

From there, we moved down to the first-floor infirmary. Jet sat on the exam table while Wave was wiping the blood off of his head and placing a gauze over his wound and Storm handed him an ice pack. Watching them work on Jet and helping them feel better... I wasn't going to lie; it was like watching parents help their kid if they got hurt outside playing or something.

"How are you feeling, boss? Do you need anything else?" Storm asked.

"N-No thanks... I'm feeling a little better. Thanks for the water as well," the hawk replied.

"Well you're welcome," Wave replied. "Just press on the ice pack and I'd say... maybe a few days it should start clearing up. In about a week, I think it should be fine to take off."

"A week... gah... we really are gonna be stuck here for a week..."

"Alright, I think it might be best if you stay here, boss!" Storm said. "Don't you think he should stay here resting up, Wave?"

"Well, it depends... do you still feel woozy, Jet?"

Jet nodded.

"Then I see no problem in letting him stay here."

"Meanwhile, I think the rest of us should find that robot as fast as possible. With Sonic missing, there's a lot at stake here," Espio said.

"Jet, if you don't mind, what happened to you after your abduction?" Blaze asked.

"W-Well... I was able to get away from the robot after finding a way to lose its grip on me. I was actually able to outrun the robot. However, Mecha Sonic ended up catching up with me and before I knew it, I was on the ground cause the damn robot threw the wrench at my legs."

Wave looked down and pulled up Jet's pants, revealing a large purple bruise on his leg.

"I passed out and woke up in the library apparently a few minutes later. I also noted that the clock in the library said 7:30, which was thirty minutes after our attack, right Storm?"

Storm nodded.

"And before I could get out... Mecha Sonic came out and attacked me. Sure enough, the way you saw me was where I was last left after my attack."

"So, if your attack took place at around 7:30, then myself, Charmy, Vector, Blaze, Big, and Amy all have alibis."

"And I was in the laundry room at 7:30. If you don't believe me, my clothes rack is still there," Wave said.

Add Wave to that, and there's quite a few people with alibis. The only people who DIDN'T have one though were... Silver and Sonic. Now that I thought about it, I didn't even see Silver at all today either.

"By the way, where IS Vector? Wasn't he just with us?"

"I bet he pussied out at the sight of a robot serial killer!" Rosie said. I was surprised, not realized that Amy had already switched to her Rosie personality.

"Yeah, he was with us in the library but just vanished at some point. I wonder what happened?" Tikal asked.

"Where could he have gone?" Espio asked, looking concerned.

"He's suddenly gone, huh?" Wave said, a smirk on her face. "What a strange, strange strange man. He might be EXACTLY as I suspected..."

"Hold on!" I said. "Vector was with us in the dining hall when Jet and Storm were attacked! Not to mention, he was there when I arrived!"

"I'm not talking about who attacked them. I'm talking about what I MENTIONED last night. Not the murderer, but the spy."

A glare formed on my face. "Are... are you saying Vector's secretly working for the mastermind? No way! That's not true!"

"It's not? That man seems far too eager to examine dead bodies. Not to mention, haven't you noticed he hasn't told you much about himself. Ask yourself this, bee: What DO you know about Vector?"

"That's enough, Wave. We can discuss this another time," Espio said. "For now, we must find Mecha Sonic to prevent any future murder."

"Exactly, so we must hurry!" Tikal said.

"I don't want there to be any more victims..." Big added.

"AND I need to make sure my Darling Sonikku is okay!" Rosie also added, holding her hammer.

"Fine. But remind yourself this, bee..." Wave said, looking at me in the eye. "Vector might be your 'friend' or whatever, but here in this zone, we all have to suspect one another, no matter how friendly we get."

I simply looked at her, not saying a word.

"Alright, c'mon... let's go..." Jet said as he got up from the table and hissed. Wave and Storm looked at their boss and held him once again.

"Jet, what are you thinking?!" Wave scolded. "At a time like this, searching for this guy is the LAST thing you want to do!"

"Listen to Wave, boss! It's not a good idea! Don't risk yourself!" Storm added. Jet looked at his two teammates.

"Y-You're right..." Jet got back up on the table and laid down.

"Wave, you go on ahead. I'll look after the boss."

"Storm... you know how reckless you can be. Are you sure you're okay doing this?" Wave aed.

"I'm gonna be fine, Wave! The most important thing is to find this guy and protect the boss. I can stand my ground against him, and not to mention, I'm sure this place has something to defend myself with!"

"Well, let's go," Espio said. We all followed him outside as Jet and Storm came out in the hall with the rest of us.

"So, I think we should ask ourselves why our culprit seems to be wearing such a ridiculous costume..." Tikal said.

"Don't bother looking for a reason, pacifist girl. Some people seem to be way too into that stuff."

"Hmmmmmmm... hm hm HMMMMM?!" Rosie said. "What to do...? Should we split up and look around?"

"That does sound like a good idea. However, if Wave's theory is correct, then Mecha Sonic may be holding the Wrench of Power 3. This could be strong enough to kill one of us..."

Just then, I saw a look of horror appear on Jet's face as he looked at the stairs.

"Jet, I saw your face change. What's wrong?" Wave asked.

"I... I... I saw it! It was at the very top of the stairs!"

"What?!" Tikal said, now frightened.

"Then it appears we must move to the second floor," Blaze said.

"Bastard... you won't get away from me!" Espio pulled out his katana as he rushed towards the stairs. All of us followed behind as I noticed that Jet was with us, but not Storm.

"Jet, aren't you supposed to be resting?!" Wave asked.

"I want to, and I know I should but... I NEED to get revenge!" he said. "Alright, he has to be here somewhere. Let's split up."

"Don't take any chances," Espio said. "Even if you corner him, just call and let me know. I'll offer a quick slice from my blade."

"What should we yell?"

"Maybe anything!..." Big said. "I'll try and let out the biggest scream I can..."

"Let's hurry up and start looking!" Tikal said. She grabbed the prayer beads out of her pockets as I heard her mumble, 'Oh please, I pray that no one dies."

Rosie was next as she screamed, "HEY MR. ROBOOOOOOOOOT! I HAVE A SPECIAL SURPRISE FOR YOU, IT'S CALLED 'TIME TO DIE!'"

As everyone else spread out, my body froze up as I realized that I was left all alone. Now I REALLY didn't like this at all one bit. I didn't know where to start, so I quickly buzzed around the second floor and found one of the classrooms. Bracing myself for the eventual 'horror movie death where the clueless victim opens the door and gets stabbed' trope, I opened the classroom door to find... nothing.

However, when I let out a sigh of relief...

"HA-AARGH!"

That tone... that loud, squawkish tone... I didn't even have to second guess who that was. All I know was that it came from the third floor. I quickly buzzed my way there as a few other people (namely Big, Tikal, and Espio) joined me. There, I saw Jet looking afraid while Blaze and Wave surrounded him.

"You four, over there!" he said.

"Jet, what happened?!" Tikal asked.

"That was an intense scream from you. I assume you found our culprit?" Espio asked.

"I saw him again! As soon as I let out that scream, he ran off. I didn't even get to see where he went... DAMN!" Jet stomped his foot on the ground.

"Do you think he might be down the hall if he's cornered?" Wave asked.

"Most likely. We gotta go find him!"

Before we buzzed off, we heard Rosie breathing in and sneeze. When she brought her head up, I saw that her eyes were back to normal, and her crazed look was gone. Sure enough, Amy was back to normal.

"H-Huh? The third floor? What happened? I-"

She looked at all of us. "Oh no... oh no oh no... it was Rosie wasn't it?!... Hey, what is going on anyway?"

We explained the situation to her as quickly as we could. Amy got more and more shocked as we delved deeper with more information.

"Oh... oh goodness..." she said in terror. "And to think that the robot we're after has-"

Amy couldn't even finish her statement before we heard something even more horrifying than the idea of a killer robot.

"WAUGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Jet and Wave froze and I could see the look of horror on their face.

"It's... It's Storm!" the hawk said.

"Oh no... please don't tell me THIS is what's happening..." Wave said, concern in her voice and her appearance.

"How could the robot have gone to the first floor?" Espio asked.

"No, I don't think there's time for questions!" Jet said. "We gotta do something!"

"B-But... you said Mecha Sonic disappeared down this hall!" Tikal said.

"You're right... actually, I was just about to suggest that we split up. Some of us should go back to the first floor and check to see if Storm's okay. I'll lead this group. Bee, pacifist girl, and slow cat; you're with me!"

Tikal, Big, and I all walked over to Jet's side.

"Alright, while you go do that, Jet... Espio, Amy, and Blaze, I think we have ourselves a robot to catch," Wave said.

"Understood. If you feel unsafe, stand by me. I'll make sure nothing happens," Espio said. Blaze giggled.

"You say that as if us girls can't fight back. You clearly must have forgotten my powers, Espio."

"Rosie's the fighter, not me..." Amy said.

"Well never mind, then. I suppose you'll have SOMEONE following behind you."

"Still... guys, good luck! All we have to do is hope that guy doesn't pop up out of nowhere and get one of us. If Storm really is... no... no I can't think that!"

"Mr. Storm the Albatross is gonna be alright... right?..." Big asked.

"Let's just hope he is..." Jet rubbed his arm. "C'mon, we have to go now!" He ran off first as we all followed behind. I flapped my wings as hard as I could as Tikal and Big struggled to keep up with myself and Jet. When we finally reached the infermery, Jet was waiting for us.

"Oh please, oh please please please please..." Tikal said as Jet grabbed the handle of the door and swung it wide open. When he did...

We stopped.

Before we left here, the room was perfectly fine. But when we looked at it now, everything was trashed. And crimson... was everywhere.

Worst of all... as my eyes wandered up to the pool of blood in the middle of the room, I saw a hand with a familiar spiked cuff. My lips dried as I looked up...

To see Storm's dead body faced up.

I could see Jet shake his head from where I was.

"N-No... no... NO... NO NO **NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!** " Jet screamed as he quickly ran to his teammate, holding his body. "STORM!"

Tikal cried. "Aaahhh! Why?!... Why is this happening again?!"

"Mr. Storm!" Big cried with Tikal. "How... how awful!..."

In the midst of the crying people in the room, I could only watch as Jet lay over Storm's body, sobbing.

"WHY... WHY DIDN'T I TAKE YOU WITH US?!... I FORGOT ABOUT YOU..." Jet began to breathe, choking on his breath occasionally. "AND LOOK AT IT I'M SUCH A FUCKING... **FUCKING** DUMBASS!" He slammed his fist on Storm's chest as the albatross simply had no movement. "How dare they... how dare that FUCKING ROBOT! I SHOULDDA BEEN HERE WITH HIM! AND YET... I WASN'T SMART ENOUGH TO EXPECT THIS!"

Big, in the midst of his crying, walked over to Jet and hugged him. Tikal did the same to me too, catching me off guard.

"Oh... oh Charmy..." she cried. "To think this happened to him... he... he actually asked me about my pacifism a few days ago, and... and we even had such a nice talk too and a-agreed on so much... I felt the kindness from him and now... n-now!"

Tikal hugged my tighter as suddenly, a too familiar noise came from the monitor in the room.

 ***Ding dong, ding dong***

The monitor turned on as Egg Robo appeared on the screen.

"A body has been discovered!" he said. "Now then... after a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"

The monitor turned off as Tikal fell to the floor, holding her mouth. "That was... the announcement..." she said. "He... he really is..."

Jet got up and looked at all of us, eyes red and puffy. "Th-the worst part is... what..." he sniffed, his voice getting higher and softer sounding. "What am I gonna tell Wave?"

"That... one of us killed him."

Big, who had already stopped hugging Jet, walked over to Storm's side and picked up something. As we looked to see, it was another one of those wrenches.

"That thing..." Jet said. "That's... a Wrench of Power..."

"It says Wrench of Power 3..." Big replied. "It's really heavy and b-big..."

"Is that what killed him?... Was Storm... not even strong enough to-"

"Jet, Jet..." I said, buzzing over to his side. "The most important thing you have to do is calm down-"

"MY TEAMMATE IS DEAD, BEE! WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

"I understand that the most important thing we have to do is find his killer."

Jet looked at me, bit his lip and stomped his foot, burying his face in his hands.

"Whoever is in that suit... they're the killer. That Mecha Sonic... they have to be responsible..."

"But it still is weird that he got from the third floor to the first..." Tikal said.

"Look, I'm sure when we uncover the truth, we'll find out! Right now... I... I want revenge... revenge for my friend... REVENGE FOR STORM!"

As Tikal got up, I could see that she suddenly got this look in her eye as she started to lose her balance.

"T-Tikal!" I said out of concern, trying to make sure she didn't fall.

"Pacifist girl!" Jet ran up to the echidna. "Don't pass out on me now!

"I... I... I can't handle it... I feel... I feel..."

She suddenly began to dry heave.

"Oh no! I think she's sick!..." Big said.

"Da-damn! Not like this!" Jet said, still in anguish. "I don't wanna leave her here all alone."

"What should we do?..." Big asked.

"I'll go get everyone. I think it would be better for me to tell Wave what happened," I said.

"Good idea, bee," the hawk nodded. "I'll take Tikal with me. Slow cat, come with us too. Just in case Mecha Sonic comes by, we can rely on you for backup, right?"

"I... I'll try..." the large cat replied.

"Alright... and... bee? If Wave does or say anything... forgive her."

I only looked at Jet and slowly nodded. As I flapped my wings, ready to fly, I could still feel my body trembling. To think that Storm was the next one to go...

I thought about his circus family as I buzzed my way to the third floor. What would they do now that not only one of their most popular performers, but their son was now dead? It made me feel sad to think looking back at everyone here who had families. Families... who were likely now torn apart now that their kid was dead.

I could feel myself crying as I soon reached the third floor. I remembered that the other group headed down the hall, so he was either in the artist studio or... no... maybe the physics lab?

I first made my way there, looking back and forth intensely to make sure there was no Mecha Sonic chasing me. Thankfully, I was able to make my way safely to the door to the physics lab and headed inside. When I did... I saw that everything was just the same. And yet... I didn't see Wave, Espio, Blaze, or Amy.

That's when I turned my head over to the repository. I noticed that the door was slightly ajar.

"Maybe they're in there?" I asked myself as I buzzed towards the door. I swung it open and...

I stopped.

There were hundreds of things I wasn't expecting to see when I opened the door. A way out, the location of Ditz, or just... anything.

What I didn't expect was a second sea of blood today...

What I didn't expect was another Wrench of Power laying by a dead body...

What I didn't expect was to see the body... the body of someone... no longer gold but blue like they always were...

What I didn't expect was the body of Sonic, lying face down on the floor, a large wound on his head...

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Despair Hill Zone Act 2**

 **DAILY LIFE**

 **D̶̰̭͉̣̜̗͉̭̊̿Aͣ̽̓̓ͯ̚Ī͚̜͈͕͍̞̬ͥͣͅL̳͉̳͎͓̥ͯ̐ͥ͐̈Y̞͙̠ͥ͂̅ͭ̾̎͑̚̕͢ ̸̸̞̼̬͍̣̲ͩ̈͗̏ͣL̸̐͛ͣ̈́̇͏͔͚Į̸͙͎̹͚̮̲̺͍́ͯ́̓ͫ̂F̨̨͉̳̭̼̿̿̍̈́̿ͅE̱̙͍͓̜̓̎̽̅̕**

 **D̠̟͂͐̀̚͟E͖̬̼͙ͥ̒̉A͆ͧ̅ͪͧ͏̠̮͚̭͈͍D̲͓̼̬̣̙̱̮̈͐͟L̴͔̤̗̘͉̘̳̩͛̈́̂̆ͥ̑͒Ỵ͔̩̲̳̋̀ͧͧ̂͋́̃ ̩̜̞͖̤͕͗̓L̛̯̟͇̞̳̉͡I̳̤̱̰͉̦͕̍ͨͬ͝F̸̼͔̹̺̗̟͓̈̃̈́̈́͞E̗̣͎̲̹̰̳ͦͭͣ̾**

 **DEADLY LIFE**


	22. Chapter 3 (Deadly Life)

**(AN: Welcome back to Despair Hill Zone, where two die for the price of one! As I mentioned last chapter, I wasn't betting on this one to be SUPER super long, and usually the Deadly Life chapters aren't TOO long, so here's one that's a bit of a breather until we reach the Investigation and Trial!)**

* * *

 **DEADLY LIFE**

Storm... lying in the infirmary...

Sonic... face down on the floor in the repository of the physics lab...

I didn't know why I had to experience two back to back nightmares today. At least, I wish they were nightmares...

But as I saw blood dripping from Sonic's head, I know this still was my reality. To think that this caused not just one but... but two murders...

I grabbed my helmet. "Why... why is this happening?!"

In my plight, I hadn't realized that Espio, Wave, and Blaze were standing over Sonic's dead body, not saying a word. In that moment I saw Amy too, also on the floor. I quickly buzzed over to her, making sure she wasn't dead either.

Just as I touched her, Wave spoke up. "Not to worry. She's just passed out."

"Goodness though..." Blaze added. "You should have heard the scream she made when she saw Sonic. My ears are still ringing."

"Likewise," Espio said. "But you have to understand. Someone she cared about is dead. Don't worry about her. I'm sure she'll wake up soon."

When he said this, I got the deepest pit in my stomach. Wave STILL had no idea that Storm was dead. To think that I had to tell her made me feel awful. That's why I decided to look at the crime scene to avoid the inevitable.

First, I noticed by Sonic's body, there was yet another wrench. This one was by far the biggest and heaviest wrench of them all, and "The Wrench of Power #4" was written in white paint on it. I wondered if that 'Mecha Sonic' was the one responsible for Sonic's death too, much like Storm's.

"I don't understand though..." Espio said as he looked over. "Why is it number 4?"

"Huh?" I was confused what he meant by that.

"Storm was attacked with number one, and Jet was attacked with number two. Where's three?"

My lips dried as I knew the secret couldn't be let out any longer.

"Bee, what's the matter?" Wave questioned. I simply looked at her, my voice getting caught in my throat.

"I... I..."

"Spit it out!"

"A-About the third Wrench of Power... t-there was... another murder..."

I could see Wave's eyes widen, almost as if her pupils were about to shrink.

"W-Wave... I... I'm sorry..."

And with that, I couldn't hold it in. I couldn't stay calm... I let out the waterworks.

"S... STORM WAS KILLED TOO!"

The look of horror on Wave's face grew tenfold as I thought she was about to scream.

"What do you mean?!" Espio questioned.

"Oh dear... all while we were gone?" Blaze asked.

"No... no don't TELL me!... TELL ME THIS ISN'T TRUE!" Wave said, holding her arm. She took a deep breath, and I knew she tried to stay calm. "B-Bee... take me to him. I have to... I have to confirm it."

With that, I lead Espio, Wave, and Blaze out of the repository as we headed back down to the first floor. Just as we reached the stairs down to the third floor...

Jet appeared.

"JET!" Wave said. "I... I just heard... tell me Storm's-"

"Wave... it's even worse..."

"No... oh please... tell me you're lying..."

"It's more than what you heard... He's... he's gone!"

I was shocked when I heard that.

"What do you mean?! Tell me! ANSWER ME!"

"I wish I knew, Wave! Argh, look! Come meet me at the infirmary! Pacifist girl and slow cat are real freaked out!"

Jet began to run down as Wave quickly followed.

"Goodness, what's going on anymore?" Blaze asked. "I thought today would be normal..."

"It seems like our murderer has different plans," Espio replied. "Come, we can't waste anymore time. While the double murder rule is in place, we still aren't safe as long as the robot is still roaming around."

With that, the three of us returned back to the infirmary where we opened the door. Only to find...

Jet was telling the truth. There was a pool of blood on the floor, and the Wrench of Power #3 was there too. But... there was no Storm. Sitting by the exam table, Tikal looked wide eyed and was shaking as Big held her.

"Tikal!" I said, buzzing towards her. "Tikal, what happened?!"

The echidna girl shook her head. "I... I dunno... it was here one minute and it was... it was gone!"

It sounded like she was mere seconds from crying.

"I can explain... even if it's really scary..." Big said with a little bit of fear present in his voice. "Ms. Tikal the Echidna, Mr. Jet the Hawk, and myself went to the girls bathroom to let Ms. Tikal calm herself down. Mr. Jet and I just stood by the bathroom, waiting for her and watching out for the robot... When we got back... Mr. Storm the Albatross was gone..."

"Damn... then it HAD to have been that Mecha Sonic!" Jet said. "And I didn't even hear anything!"

"Neither did I..."

"Argh... for Gaia's sake..." Jet fell to the floor. "That's it. I dunno what to do anymore. My teammate... no, my friend was killed, and our murderer just wants to mock us. What can we even do anymore?... Nothing, that's what. Face it... we're all gonna die here! We're gonna die just like they did!"

"How... how could he even just disappear..." Wave said, holding Jet's shoulder. "Two murders and one of the bodies is gone."

Big, Tikal, and Jet looked up at Wave when she said this.

"Wave, say that again!"

"W-what do you mean two murders?!" Tikal questioned. Wave looked at the three.

"We found Sonic's body in the physics lab repository."

I could hear a moan of despair coming from the pacifist's mouth. "NO... It was bad enough when it was one but... two?! TWO murders?!"

"Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog was even getting better too!..." Big cried.

"Argh, they even got him?" Jet said. "Look... I HATED the guy but... damn! That doesn't mean he deserved to die!

"No..." Tikal moaned. "You are right, Jet... they're gonna... they're gonna kill all of us!"

"Even if that rule is in place, do you feel there could be another target?" Espio asked.

We all stood around the room, not knowing of anyone that could. It was then that I remembered one person who lay by Sonic's body.

"The person that we left behind in the repository..." Blaze said. Espio and I looked at each other.

"AMY!" we both said.

"You LEFT pinky there?!" Jet questioned, dumbfounded.

"We didn't have a choice, Jet!" Wave replied. "She passed out and we couldn't wake her up!"

"Well then why didn't you go back for her?"

"Why, you're certainly defensive for Amy. Besides, when I got the news about Storm, why WOULD my first concern be for her?"

"Actually uh... yeah, you kinda have a point there."

"Look!" I said, trying to diffuse the situation. "The most important thing we can do now is to stop fighting and head back to the repository!"

"Oh... I can't take this anymore..." Tikal said, still shaking her head as Big held her. "I don't want anyone to die... I don't wanna die..."

"I'll stay with Ms. Tikal the Echidna... go check on Ms. Amy Rose..." Big said.

* * *

And so, we all shot out of the nurse's office and raced our way to the repository on the third floor. When we arrived, I sighed a breath of relief to see Amy still in the same position that we left her in.

"Thank goodness she's okay..." Espio said, sighing. After getting done checking her pulse as a last-minute resort, I looked up and...

Froze.

My face fell and my body shook as I was staring at a sight that only made me more confused, yet afraid.

"Uh... g-guys?..." I said, pointing to the scene in question. Everyone looked over right away to see what I was pointing at.

Where Sonic's body was... much like Storm, HIS body was now gone too. The only thing left was a pool of blood.

"What in the name of Gaia is going on?!" Wave said, going over to the scene.

"Something real bad..." I said.

"Hey, look right here," Jet pointed to the end of the pool of blood. "Don't those look like skid marks, Wave?"

"You're right. What does that mean?"

"Do you think it could have something to do with Sonic's disappearance?" Blaze asked.

"If you had to ask me, I think so."

"Argh..." Espio put his hand on his arm. "Is this some kind of hallucination?"

"I wish it was..." I said. "But you saw what Sonic looked like. He might be gone now, but he's still very much dead."

"So what, his body just disappeared?"

Wave shook her head. "No, don't say that. I don't think Storm and Sonic vanished into thin air. No... I just think they've hidden the bodies. But why would they do that?... It just makes no sense."

"If this is what's happening, then that Mecha Sonic is still out there. I'm sure they had enough time to get Sonic out if they could hide Storm too," Jet said.

"Yeah, you're right. We shouldn't have let our guard down like this..."

"Then we should find him quickly. The sooner we prevent another murder-" Espio said before getting cut off by Wave.

"No, I don't think you have to worry about that," She then walked to the middle of the room. "Let's think about it like this. Who could be responsible for killing these two people and hiding their bodies?"

We all stood in silence, not really knowing.

"Okay then, think about it like this. When Storm was killed and we heard his cry, we were all up here on the third floor."

"Yeah, and then we split up into our groups," Jet added.

"Correct. And we all came here from the infirmary to check up on Amy. Which means that out of everyone not here... our two biggest suspects are Silver and Vector, both of whom are still missing."

"Wait a minute!" I argued back. "Vector DOES have an alibi! He was with us when Storm AND Jet were attacked earlier this morning! As for Silver... err... yeah, I got nothing."

"Well, YOU seem adamant to defend him. Maybe you idolize him and want to be just like he is?"

"That's enough, Wave," Espio said. "However Charmy feels about Vector, that's not important."

"You're right, you're right. I accept Vector's alibi."

"Which means that the only suspect is Silver?" Blaze asked.

"That's what it was looking like. Which means that there will be no more murders, as I bet Egg Robo heavily enforces that rule. As long as it's in place..."

Egg Robo then burst into the room. "...THEN I'd have my way with you! I'd first take you to the fanciest restaurant I can manage! Oh, but the food might look good, but it's all several years old and MOLDY! And then I'd make you all eat it because what's more important than making a good first impression? Or you could be the food yourself! How would you all like to be minced into hamburger meat?"

We were all silent, wondering where this was coming from.

"YEAAAAAAAAAH didn't think so!"

Egg Robo then vanished.

"...ANYWAY..." Wave continued.

"So, two people have been killed, which means that there's no more that's gonna happen..." Jet said. "Huh, so looks like pinky never was in any danger. Still though, why did we come here in the first place?"

"You never know. Anyway, with that out of the way, we should focus on trying to find the status of Storm and Sonic's bodies."

I couldn't even wrap my head around this. It would already be a mystery if ONE body was missing, but the fact that two bodies were missing? It just made no sense. In fact, my head hurt just thinking about that. And thinking that Silver was the only one who could have done it, since he was the only one without an alibi was...

Weird. Was he really the killer? And most of all, where did he go?

"Bee, what's the matter?" Wave asked. I shook my head, signaling that nothing was wrong. "Fair enough, we need to find those two."

It was then that two people came into the repository; Tikal and Big. The echidna was looking a little better, but still was visibly nervous.

"H-Hello..." she said. "Sorry that I had to be all afraid like this. I just... I never expected something like this to happen again. I should have been more desensitized to it and yet..."

"It's okay, Ms. Tikal the Echidna..." Big replied. "I'm a little scared too..."

"Well, good that you two are here! We're splitting up!" Jet said.

"Huh? Splitting up? For what?" Tikal asked. I explained the situation to her as quickly as possible, seeing the look of worry on her face grow. "My goodness... that's horrific. You're right though. Now that we're all safe, we have no reason to think that another murder will happen."

"Okay everyone, yell out if you find anything!" Jet ran out of the repository quickly, almost as if he wanted to get revenge for Storm as quick as quick can be. Everyone else soon followed behind, leaving me behind. I looked behind at Amy, who was still passed out, and exited the room.

As I buzzed out of the physics lab and down the hall, I looked around, wondering where I should head first. I poked my head into two classrooms, but all I found was Blaze and Big individually looking at each other. My next place was the artists' studio, where Tikal and Espio were looking together.

"Ah, Charmy..." Espio said upon seeing me. "Any luck?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. You guys?"

Tikal frowned. "Nothing either. This whole case just seems so upside down, almost like a fever dream in a way. Still, where could two dead bodies vanish to?"

"That's what I wanna know. Have you checked in here?" I buzzed over to the art studio's supply room, where I put my hand on the doorknob and turned it. Only, the door was locked.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"Was this door always locked?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't properly examine this place my first time around. I assume so though."

"Well, I actually remember entering inside here a few days ago. Weird though..."

I had to let it go, knowing there wasn't much I could do. I left the area, leaving Tikal and Espio to the art studio. Going down the purple hall, my last place of note was the rec room. However, nobody was there, so I quickly left. But when I closed the door behind me...

Jet was right in front of me.

"Yargghh!" I said, freaked out. "Oh, it's just you."

To my left, I saw Wave standing next to him. "What are you doing? We're going to the supply room in the art studio."

"Wait... do you mean?"

Jet nodded. "Yeah... I found them both. They were hiding in there the whole time. Wave already told the rest, so we need to get moving now!"

As the two birds left, I was dumbfounded. They were there? I remember it being locked but... at least they were found.

Making my way to the artist's studio, I already saw Jet standing by the door. With the gloomy look on his face, he opened the door and I saw... sure enough...

The bodies of Sonic and Storm side by side, both of them motionless. Wave sat over Storm, stroking his feathers. Tikal I could see was crying again while Big held her, Espio closed his eyes and muttered something, and Blaze stood motionless over the two. Amy, Vector, and Silver however was still nowhere to be seen.

When the smell of blood hit me, I gagged. It was my reminder that what I was seeing wasn't something I could deny or something I could pretend was a dream.

It was that THIS scene was reality.

However, suddenly I heard a familiar sound.

 ***Ding dong, ding dong***

The monitor towards the end of the room lit up as Egg Robo appeared.

 _"A body has been discovered!"_ he said. _"Now then... after a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

When the monitor turned off, Egg Robo popped into the middle of the room.

"And so it continues!" Egg Robo said. "The exciting thriller of what happens when a robot goes wild! To prepare you for your tour through this fantastic journey, here you all are! Your third EggPAD!" He held the PADs triumphantly in the air. "I was gonna give them to you the first time, but don't you like it when stories go in shocking ways? It was hard to resist, but I'm glad I'm gonna see this until the end!"

Wave stood up and walked over to the robot, anger in her face. "Give me THAT!" She then snatched the EggPAD from Egg Robo as he handed one to me and Jet, and left the rest on the table.

"Now, make sure you investigate good good GOOD! Otherwise you'll disappoint the audience!"

When Egg Robo left, everyone else grabbed an EggPad Wave let her shoulders hang. "It seems like all we can do is... uncover the culprit."

Tikal looked at Wave. "How could you be so calm, Wave?... I mean... it's not just Sonic but it's also your friend too..."

Wave looked at her with anger. "Do you think I don't realize that?! DO YOU?!"

"I'm glad you do because both of them are d-dead! They're N-NEVER coming back!"

"THAT'S ALL I CAN DO, PACIFIST GIRL! SOLVE STORM'S MURDER!..."

With tears rolling down her face, Wave crouched down to Storm's body once again, looking down at him. Jet did the same, arm on Wave's shoulder.

"Jet... why?..."

The hawk said nothing, only looked at Storm's body. He then reached over to his eyes and closed them.

"Sleep tight, Storm. We'll solve your murder. I promise."

I almost expected this to be a world of fantasy where crying over a dead body would bring someone back to life. But... this wasn't fantasy. No matter how many tears Wave shed, no matter how many times Jet lay his hand on Storm's body...

It amounted to nothing.

Wave got up, wiped her face, and took a deep breath. "I... I'm sorry. You shouldn't see me like this. The most we can do... is find out the truth."

Jet nodded. "Silver's the only one right... then... then the case is solved. He's the one that killed Storm!"

Killing both of them and hiding their bodies... A criminal that hides their face and uses a wrench made from marble? Is that really what Silver is behind his dopey persona?

"If this is true..." Tikal said. "I cannot... I cannot forgive someone like him, engaging in the largest sin of mankind!"

"Then we have to find the truth," Wave said. "And if Silver did it... at least Storm can rest peacefully."

As we all looked at each other, I knew that IT was going to begin again. The investigation, trial, and worst of all, doubting one another. It seems like it was a cycle that wouldn't end, but if it meant saving everyone else...

Then I had to do it.

I looked at Sonic's body one more time and frowned. Perhaps... he and Tails are finally reunited. No more anger... sadness... they would forever be friends like they said.

I shook my head, now wasn't the time to be emotional. Now was the time to find the truth.

 **INVESTIGATION**

 **BEGIN!**


	23. Chapter 3 (Investigation)

**(AN: Welcome to the investigation portion of Chapter 3! As it's starting to look like Silver killed both Storm and Sonic, is that really the truth? Is there much more than that? Or am I just stalling looking for a better AN to write?**

 **Apologies, I just beat probably the hardest game I've played in my life. If you wanna check it out, it's called No Thing, which is on the Switch and the PC. Holy hell I don't think I've never needed a therapist until now.**

 **With that shameless plug in out of the way, let's begin!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo sat in a room filled with memorabilia and toys, simply looking straight ahead._

 _"When imagination runs wild, it's amazing the kind of things you can make. When you're a kid, something like playing with a toy car can feel like racing in a big, neon lit city in an expensive sports car. Most importantly, when you're left alone with your imagination, it's almost like you can make your own peaceful world. Focus on my words and nothing else. If you got a message from your online friend, or your mom's calling you to help with chores, ignore them. Listen to what I'm saying and don't take your eyes off the screen."_

 _The robot proceeded to bounce in place as the room revealed more toys scattered around. "Picture a world where everything is peaceful and joyous. Now, picture a world where nothing strange ever happens because nothing strange exists. That's what I truly call a weird world."_

* * *

As I held my EggPAD, I figured the first thing I should do as usual is to read the autopsy report. Starting up the device, a picture of Sonic and Storm appeared, alongside a shot of their dead bodies. Surprisingly, their autopsy was written together.

 _"Victims # 3 and 4 are Storm the Albatross and Sonic the Hedgehog respectively. Each retrospective party had a similar cause of death; a blow to the head,"_ it read.

"Hey, did you guys read the EggPAD?" I asked. "Didn't they have a similar death to Knuckles?"

"Now that you mention it..." Espio replied, looking at his. "You bring up a very good point. However, I believe this one is hidden amongst many shadows like our last trial."

I nodded and continued reading.

 _"It is likely that the two were killed with a similar weapon."_

Other than the autopsy showing the parts of the body where Storm and Sonic were hit, there was nothing else in the EggPAD. I found this confusing though. How could that be it?

"It looks like you noticed that there's less information than there usually is, bee," Wave said, noticing my expression.

"Well, we did kinda see everything, right?" Jet asked. "The EggPAD just gets the boring details outta the way anyway!"

"Now that I think about it," Espio said. "Vector... where has he been?"

Blaze chuckled. "You're right. I wonder where our favorite crocodile detective has gone?"

"I don't think he did it... he was with us..." Big replied.

"Y-Yeah!" Tikal nodded. "Vector has an alibi for when Jet and Storm were attacked like we mentioned earlier!"

"My issue with that is, and I hope this isn't true... what if the killer was working together with an accomplice?" Espio continued, crossing his arms.

Now I was taken aback. Sure, it could SEEM like Silver killed all the people but the idea of an accomplice was... it made sense even if I knew Vector would be the LAST person to do such a thing. Just then, a familiar face popped up.

"Are we talking accomplices?!" Egg Robo asked.

"You! What are you doing here?!" Jet spat.

"You know, what is it with you lot always treating me like a nuisance during these investigations when I'm trying to HELP you?! It's like, what? You don't appreciate the help? Well fine! Be that way! Even when I was going to answer your questions about accomplices!"

"Ignore him, Egg Robo," Espio said. "Do continue."

"Aw, I like your generosity, Espio! I'll be so nice that I'll tell it to you! Do you remember what we talked about during the first class trial? Wave asked me if accomplices become blackened, and I told her that each murder IS allowed to have one, but only the one who did the killing will get to graduate! So, a murder can have one, but you don't really gain anything from it!"

"Now my question is; does this confirm that nobody worked together?"

"Can't answer that! It's private info that you all need to find out for yourself! In the meantime, I just wanted to remind you the ruling about accomplices. Only one person graduates, and the accomplice gets nothing!"

"Then in that case, we just have to find out who that one blackened is, right?" Wave asked.

"Ughhh, you guys don't get it! Okay, let me explain AGAIN... The class trials, you with me so far? The purpose of them is to find the one TRUE blackened who devised the murder plot and put it into action! Got it? Okay, enough explanations! I wanna see your young minds grow from all the information you learn during this investigation!"

With that, Egg Robo vanished, leaving us behind in the supply room.

From our conversation, I can infer that there was only one true blackened, and that even if there was an accomplice, they wouldn't benefit. If anything... I think this proved that Vector has no connection to this case.

"If I had to read your face, bee..." Wave said. "You're thinking about the croc, aren't you?"

"Yes..." Espio said. "I believe that Vector has nothing to do with this case thanks to the information given to us."

"If that's true, where is Vector?" Tikal asked.

"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually," Blaze said. "After all, he always has a knack for being vague about everything. One small disappearance won't be the end of the world."

Jet stomped his foot. "Well the least he can do is show up to help us! We're never gonna find the blackened if we don't begin!"

"Look, as long as he's not connected to the case, then it doesn't matter. Let's get back to the investigation," Espio turned his back against us all.

"There you go, defending your boyfriend again! What do you think he's doing then?!"

"Firstly, Vector and I are not doing such a thing. And second, even IF we were, I'd at least respect that in a place like this, him trying to find any clues to help us is more important than pointless bickering. After all, our murderer killed your friend, Jet. The least you could do is to give his murderer his well-due punishment!"

Jet bit his lip.

"Hey, not to bring off any attention but... shouldn't we think of any suspect?" Tikal said. "You know... maybe someone like Rosie? After all, Rosie really could have done-"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES?~ Done WHAT, small-tit girl?!"

I froze upon hearing THAT voice. I could feel someone breathing behind my neck. I didn't want to be scared like last time, so I didn't turn around.

"Rosie... what do you want?" I asked.

"I was all alone by myself when I spotted a pool of blood! Ooooh, how spooky! I'm guessing stinky pinky got freaked out and panicked! KYAHAHAAAA, well what can you do? Anyway, who is it this time? Is it green turkey dinner? Is it pot leaf? Is it that one expensive handbag my stupid self owns?" she replied. My blood grew cold. Hearing that Amy screamed when she saw Sonic was hard enough to hear, but remembering that Rosie didn't know that Sonic was killed.

My fears were confirmed when she looked over at my shoulder and saw Storm and Sonic. In a flash, I saw her crazed expression turn into a shocked look, and then her face grew suddenly red and she put on a face similar to a child having a tantrum.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"** she screeched. "MY DARLING SONIKKUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Rosie ran over to Sonic and began to violently shake the hedgehog.

"NO, TELL ME YOU'RE SLEEPING! TELL ME YOU'RE NOT DEAD! WHAT ABOUT OUR MARRIAGE? WHAT ABOUT OUR BABIES?! ARE YOU JUST GONNA DIE WITHOUT ME BEING ABLE TO RIP YOUR HEART OUT AND MAKE IT MINE?!..."

Her breakdown ended when she began to breathe heavily. When she turned around, her look of insanity grew to that of absolute malice and bloodshed. If looks could kill, all of us would be dead.

Rosie grasped her hammer and came inching closer to us, foam coming from her mouth.

"WHO... WHO DID THIS TO MY DARLING SONIKKU?..."

She first looked at Jet. "YOU! YOU ABSOLUTE BIRD PIECE OF SHIIIIIIT! I SHOULD HAVE **KNOWN** IT WAS YOU!"

"Look you crazy bitch! I had nothing to do with it!" Jet screamed, holding out his hands over his face to protect himself.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU, KITTY CAT?!"

"I swear!... I swear I didn't ki-kill Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog!..." Big said in between tears.

"WHAT ABOUT-"

Rosie's rampage was stopped by Espio, who held his katana out in front of the killer's hammer.

"Rosie, that's enough. We're trying to find out who killed Sonic, and the more we continue to act out this foolishness, the less time we have to investigate. We'll find out what happened to Sonic soon enough, but doing this is not what we should be doing."

"BUT HE'S DEEEEEEEEEEEEAD!"

"I know that. That's why you're going to help us."

"NEVER... I'LL NEVER HELP YOU ALL UNTIL I FIND OUT WHO KILLED MY DARLING SONIKKU!..."

"See, pacifist girl?" Wave said. "It's highly unlikely for Rosie to be our suspect. First of all, she has an alibi since she was with us the whole time. And she was lying unconscious in the repository. Besides, can you really see her being able to lift Storm? Sure, her and Sonic were in the same room, but when it comes to Storm, it seems near impossible. He weighed around 176 pounds. Can you see someone like her lifting someone that heavy? And before you mention the hammer, a hammer and a body are two different things."

"Y-Yeah... I guess you're right." she replied.

"Well... crazy bitch syndrome aside," Jet said. "What the hell are we gonna do about a guard? Knuckles is dead, and-"

"I'll do it," Rosie said. "I'll make sure whatever robot... no, if ANY one of you gets even INCHES from my Darling Sonikku, or if I find out you're the murderer..." She then proceeded to tap her hammer, revealing spikes coming from every corner of the hammer. "You're not only going to get a hammer to the FUCKING face, but I'll go my extreme route... I'll put you on a table, strap you, MUTILATE you, and finally serve you your own organs for dinner with your own blood to wash it down only to leave you for the CROWS! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

"We need to look at his body to do the-"

 **"DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"**

"Alright, alright! We get it! Gaia, stop with the fucking yelling! You sound even more pathetic than you normally do!"

Frankly disturbed by her threat, knowing that I had to look at Sonic's body, I was wondering in what ways could I tide over Rosie to let me look at the body. It was then, only seconds before she turned her head to look right at me, did Espio tap my shoulder.

"Charmy, I believe this will be the first investigation that I shall help with. We should work together," he said.

"Whoa, I didn't think you were good at this kind of stuff," I replied.

"You'd be surprised, Charmy. As a ninja, my sense of scouting is far greater than the average person. While we investigate... we should also try and see if we can find Vector. I believe that if us three work together, we should easily make our job of investigation a lot easier."

"Us three? You think of us like a team?"

"Well, Vector has been noting that you have been hanging around us more. Perhaps you can say we're both starting to enjoy your company."

I smiled. "Well, thanks! It does mean a lot for you to say that, anyway. But still... we all have alibis... what can we do from here?"

Espio scratched his chin. "Hmm... okay, let's think back to everything. Let's recap back to everything this morning. Do you remember it all?"

"Y-Yeah... I remember it. It was 7:00, and me, you, Vector, Tikal, Big, and Blaze were in the dining hall. Silver, Sonic, Jet, Wave, and Storm didn't appear, so we waited for them to show up."

"It was then that Storm came rushing into the dining hall around 8:00, letting us know what happened. After we told him we'd go look for Jet, we ran into Wave, who accompanied us. We later found Jet in the library, he said he was attacked by the same robot thing as Storm was. Storm was attacked an hour before he came into the dining hall, and Jet likely was abducted and attacked thirty minutes later. Based on his picture, our suspect seems to be someone in a strange costume. It was there that Vector disappeared."

"From there, we took Jet back to the infirmary, who left with us to chase after Mecha Sonic, but forgot about Storm. It was there that not long after leaving, Jet saw the robot and we returned to the second floor. Not too long later though, we heard Jet on the third floor and quickly rushed to him, who said he found Mecha Sonic and that he went down the hall. It was there that... we heard Storm scream. We split up into two groups."

"That's correct, myself, Wave, Blaze, and Amy were tasked to find the culprit, while you, Jet, Tikal, and Big checked up on Storm."

"And when we returned... Storm lay there dead. I left everyone there to tell the others what happened, but when I did... I found Sonic. You found him earlier before I did, right? Doesn't that mean both their bodies were found at the same time?"

"I believe so. The body discovery announcement played after we found Sonic."

"I then told you guys what happened, so you, Wave, and Blaze followed me and left Amy behind. But as soon as we were about to head down the stairs, we ran into Jet. He told us that Storm's body vanished, and sure enough, Jet was telling the truth. Then we remembered Amy and rushed back to the repository to help her. She was fine, but then I found that Sonic's body was gone too. From there, we went to search for them all. And afterwards... Jet told us he found them both and we headed here. We rediscovered Sonic and Storm. And... here we are."

"There's quite a lot that happened, so we need to review every aspect we can so far. If you need help, feel free to ask."

I nodded, and I knew from here, the most we could do was look around. I first started with the wall of mallets and wrenches, where I noticed there were plenty of the wrenches were gone. I wonder if they were used at the base for the Wrenches of Power?

As I examined the wrenches, I noticed that a lot of them looked like they hadn't seen much use. However, one of the wrenches seemed to be clean with no dust on it at all.

"Did someone wash this?" I asked Espio. He took a look at the wrench and nodded. This, I knew, had to be big. Getting out my PAD and my pen, I opened up the notebook part of my PAD and wrote down my first clue, the Spotless Wrench.

From there, I looked at Sonic. I was hoping Rosie wasn't going to mutilate me but... I had to examine his body.

"Hey uh... Rosie?" I asked.

"I told you ONCE, Chimcharm! If you even so much TOUCH my Darling Sonikku, then I'm gonna beat you until you look like a roll of sausages!"

"Geez, calm down! I wanted to ask if I can examine Sonic's body! Not because I feel like it, but because I feel that it'll help solve who the killer is. That IS what you want, right? To get revenge on who did it?"

"Of course it is, you S.O.B! I'm just not gonna let a SINGLE person be near my Darling! Just the fact that he's dead... I'm his widow now, and I'm gonna make sure that NO ONE touches him until they fess up!"

"You aren't even a widow though... Look, just let me look at the stupid body and I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Really? HOW?!"

"Well if I told you, it'd ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

"Huh... well surprises are good and I like surprises... especially if it involves the internal organs of the boys that I love... Alright, fine! But listen up Chimcharm, get touchy feely with my Darling Sonikku and my Piko Piko Hammer is gonna have a lovely Chimcharm FACE IMPLANT ON IT, GOT IT?!"

"Yeah yeah, got it."

Buzzing down to Sonic's body, I stood on both legs as Espio crouched down next to me. Just looking at him made me sad. Sure, he was absolutetly rude but... that was Egg Robo's fault. I wish I could have done more for him...

I remembered that Sonic was found next to the Wrench of Power 4, and I noticed as well that there was a tarp under his body, almost like it was used to move him... I also noticed that next to Sonic's head, there was a balled-up towel.

Getting out my PAD, I wrote down my second clue, the Tarp. I also wrote the towel down for future reference, as I think whoever brought Sonic here used that to make sure he didn't trail blood.

Next I looked at Storm's body. Something that conflicted me was... how could the killer lift someone like Storm? He had to be one of the biggest people here, and Wave said that he had quite a lot of bulk to him. I mean, over 17 0 pounds? It's not gonna be easy for the average person unless you were super strong.

Most importantly, HOW could he even have gone from the infirmary to here without anyone noticing?

It made no sense, and just even TRYING to make sense of it hurt my head.

"Any ideas on how he could have reached this floor, Espio?" I asked.

"There's a few things I can think of if this zone actually had those things. The most likely theory would be something like an elevator, but as you can tell, there's nothing like that here," he replied.

"Should we think about it later?"

"Perhaps. It seems illogical to discover the truth here."

As I examined more of Storm's body, I felt all around him to see if I could find anything different. Although I found no such thing, I looked at Storm's face and paused.

"Hey, Espio? Is it just me or does Storm look different?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm getting this feeling that... the Storm in front of us looks different from the same one I found in the infirmary."

"I wouldn't know too much about that. I was with Wave and the others when you found him."

As I looked at his face more, my eyes wandered over to the goggles he had on his head. It was then that I saw they were devoid of any blood and were also cracked.

"Wait a minute.." I said, pointing at the goggles in question. "Those were like that before. I remember when we found them, his head was covered in blood, including his goggles. But look here, they're wiped!"

Espio looked over and confirmed it for himself. "What does that mean? Did someone wipe it off? If that's the case... then who?"

"I'm not sure but look! His hand has a little bit of blood on it too!"

I wasn't sure about how he not ONLY could have been dropped off here due to his weight, but also who managed to wipe off his goggles. Unsure of it, I decided to write Storm's goggles as my third clue.

With that, I was finished examining the bodies, and I knew from here we could ask a few of the people who hadn't left the room yet. First, we started with Wave.

"Hey Wave," I said. "Do you think that Silver really is our culprit?"

"Well... from how things are looking, it seems unlikely that Vector couldn't have done it. Not just from his alibi, but just the fact that he's been gone since you all met. Plus, not to mention, he placed the bodies in such a hasty manor. If you wanted to hide a body, you'd do it very well, no?"

"I guess but... why would he hide his identity with that Mecha Sonic suit if we were all going to suspect him?"

"If I had to guess, the moron thought that if his face was covered, then he'd be okay. Which as we know, isn't the case."

"Then, why TWO people?" Espio asked. "Do you think there's a connection between Sonic and Storm? Or were they just random?"

"Wait... what do you mean?" Wave asked, looking a little... concerned.

"Think about it like this, Wave. The purpose of the graduation thing is to kill without getting caught. But by killing two people, you cause more clues, more chances to get caught. No? Plus, no one really held a grudge between Storm, but many did towards Sonic. You saw how he harassed nearly everyone here."

I could tell Wave was looking slightly concerned. "I see... Hmm... Oh..."

"Is everything okay?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. I just... I have a theory. I just need my time to make sure it'll be true."

Wave walked off, leaving us behind.

"What do you make of that?" I asked. Espio shook his head.

"I'm not sure. But I think Wave realized something."

Nodding, we decided to look around the room to see what else we haven't explored. I did notice that by Blaze's feet, there was a dolly. I do remember seeing this here before when we first explored the third floor. Buzzing towards it, I examined it closer.

"Hey, Espio... does it seem dumb to think that you can use this dolly to push something with your feet?"

"Well, there is no handle, but from how it looks, it's not IMPOSSIBLE to bend down."

I picked up the dolly and turned it around. When I did...

I noticed the wheels. The wheels... that had blood on them.

"Wait a minute... wasn't this not ONLY in the repository in the physics lab, but also, wasn't there skid marks in that pool of blood Sonic left behind when he vanished?"

Blaze, who had been hovering over me, spoke. "Why, yes it was. I remember that clear as day. Someone brought up that skid mark, and it does make sense that the dolly would be used. In fact... doesn't it seem likely that the dolly was used to transport Sonic's body?"

"No, I don't think so," Espio said.

"What do you mean?"

"How does that explain the towel by his head? Almost as if someone was covering his wound."

"You're right. I hadn't noticed."

"So, is the dolly a false lead?" I asked.

"From the looks of it, it could be," Espio replied. "However, just in case I'm wrong, be sure to write it down. I feel like the dolly being there means there's more than meets the eye."

I did what Espio requested, and jotted down the dolly potentially being a false lead. From there, we got up and decided to ask Blaze anything she knew.

"I wouldn't particularly know," she replied. "Although... I'm starting to theorize something."

"Theorize?" I asked.

"So, let's say for the record, that Silver really IS the killer. How could he have moved Storm's body?"

"That's what me and Espio were trying to figure out. Do you think maybe he used the dolly to pick up Storm but not Sonic?"

"I think it might be a little simpler, but also hard to believe too. What if there's something about the first time you discovered Storm, how he died was different?"

"Well, we did notice that his goggles were cracked and they lacked blood, which they were coated it in when my group found him."

"Hm... I see... well... oh!"

"What's wrong?"

"I just have realized something that none of us seemed to have stopped and thought about."

"What do you mean?"

"We've been talking about how Silver could have moved the body, correct? Now, this whole time, we've been discussing it as 'How did Silver have the strength to lift Storm up?'. But I don't think that's it."

Espio took a few seconds to ponder, then I could see the 'aha!' moment spark in him. "You... you don't mean?"

"I do. We for some reason think Silver lifted Storm. Well, he did lift Storm. But not with his hands... no, with his mind."

"His mind?!" I said, dumbfounded that I completely forgot about Silver's ultimate status.

"It's not unlikely that Silver could have used his power of ESP to lift Storm. Unlike using brute strength, lifting something with your mind likely has no barriers when it comes to weight."

I looked up at Espio. "Hey, Espio... do you think this seals the deal?"

"Well, as I said before during our first investigation, it's best we explore all parts of a case from front to back. However, I cannot deny with that explanation, things are looking worse for Silver. It does make sense how he can lift Storm from the first floor to the third if he used his powers."

I frowned. I didn't want to BELIEVE that Silver could have been the killer but the evidence was starting to stack up. Wave was right, his incompetence would cause this investigation to be easier than any of us thought.

Finally, we talked to Tikal, who gotten up from praying over the two dead bodies.

"Oh, hello Charmy and Espio. S-Sorry..." she said, looking down. "I was just hoping that Storm and Sonic's souls depart peacefully into the heavens. How happy Tails must be to have his friend..."

"It's fine," I said. "Hey, Tikal. I wanted to ask you, do you anything or have any clues?"

"Any clues? Um... wait, actually... Espio? Don't you remember what was strange?"

Espio nodded. "That I do."

"Let me explain, Charmy. Don't you remember how after Sonic and Storm disappeared, and how Espio and I went to the art studio to look for them? Remember that door you tried to open but couldn't because it was locked? Espio and I first looked at some classrooms, but then we moved onto the art studio. Still though... I wonder who could have locked it? Could it have been Silver?"

Now that I certainly remembered. It was weird that not only would the door be locked one minute and then unlocked the second, but just the fact that it happened in such a short amount of time...

I knew that Jet was the one who found them, so perhaps I should ask him later.

With the supply room done, Espio and I headed out to find the doorknob. I buzzed closer to it, examining it. From how it was designed, it was likely made to lock from the supply closet only. If I had to infer, during the time of our investigation, this meant that when I tried to open the door, someone had already gone inside and locked the door. And when they were done, they unlocked the door and left. Although... who could have gotten in here before Espio and Tikal arrived?

With that, I had my fourth clue, the Door to the Supply Closet.

"Alright, Espio... where to now?" I asked.

"Hmm... if I had to think about it... I think a good place for us to start might be either where we found Storm or Sonic's body. Sonic's body is the closest, but Storm's also has as many clues if you asked me."

"We can examine the repository of the Physics Lab. There might be a lot of clues there."

"Very well, lead the way."

* * *

So we entered the repository, where the stain of blood and the Wrench of Power #4 was found. Sure enough, when I got closer to the pool of blood, I saw the skid mark of the dolly on there, confirming my suspicions. I still wasn't 100% sure if it was used, but just the fact that it was here had to mean that someone did use it.

"Wait," Espio said, pointing to one side of the bloodstain. "Look here."

Doing as he said, I looked at the stain and paused to see a footprint. While it was partially cut off, it still was a clear as day footprint.

"Do you know whose it is?"

"All of us seem to wear such ungodly large shoes, so I doubt we'll know who it is. Plus, these shoes don't have any kind of pattern on the bottom."

"But think about this, if there's a footprint here... do you think maybe the killer stepped in it by accident?"

"Most likely."

"T-Then maybe Sonic could have been lifted up by someone! Like, they could lift him normally..."

"That also seems possible too, however, since our main suspect is Silver, there still is a way that he could have stepped in it. Likely, Silver needs to have distance to use his power. And the idea of him walking in blood and leaving such obvious evidence... It does sound like him, no?"

"I guess you're right..."

Still though, this felt like such an important clue and could lead us closer as to who killed Sonic. With that, I wrote down the fifth clue, the bloody footprint.

But now this begged a new question... what did this mean about the dolly? If this was Silver's doing, did he maybe use the dolly as a way to distract us and make us THINK that it was used to transport Sonic's body? That, I wouldn't lie, was actually a rather smart idea. However, that footprint? Not a smart idea.

From there, we decided to talk to Big, who was just in the room not doing much.

"Hey Big, any clues yet?" I asked.

"Oh... not that I can find, Mr. Charmy Bee and Espio the Chameleon..." he replied. "I'm really confused by everything that's going on. Although... I wanna ask... How can the killer use something with wheels?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The killer is the robot, right?... So how can he use the thing with wheels?"

"I think what he means is, how can Mecha Sonic use the dolly?" Espio said. I was confused by this statement though.

"Didn't we say that Silver could have used his ESP to lift Sonic?"

"But how could he have pushed the dolly with the suit still on?"

I stopped in my tracks when I heard that. NOW what he said made a lot more sense when he put it like that.

"I'm not sure why... But I think that'll be important to remember."

I didn't write it down as a clue, but I made sure to remember it for the future.

From there, we examined the tarps by the shelf, remembering that Sonic's body had been under a tarp. This of course meant the tarp came from this room and this room only.

"I think we're done here for now," Espio said. "Let's head back to the infirmary. We should find another clue there."

* * *

When we arrived at the infirmary, we saw Jet, who was crouched on the floor. He looked up at us as soon as we walked in.

"Oh, bee and edgy ninja, it's you two," the hawk said. "Hey, listen! I think I actually found something important!"

"Really? What could you have found?" Espio replied.

"This!" Jet held out a bloodied soft cloth.

"What's... this?"

"A cleaning cloth! I found this in the trash can right there! And not just any cleaning cloth... it's Storm's!"

"Storm's?" I asked.

"The Babylon Rogues each have their own cleaning cloth for their goggles or glasses. See-" Jet dug into his pockets and pulled out a green soft cloth. "This one right here is mine. And I know for a fact that this one is Storm's!"

"Hey, Espio... remember how we were discussing earlier about how Storm's goggles could have been cleaned off?"

The chameleon nodded. "That I do remember. Then that means someone cleaned it off after you, Jet, Tikal, and Big found the body. Jet, what's your alibi from when the body was moved?"

"My alibi? Dude, you remember, right bee? Pacifist girl felt ill so slow cat and I took her to the bathroom while bee took off to find you all. You can ask either of them about it anyway! Besides, I bet it was Silver doing that. He has that weird ESP shit anyway!"

"Hmm... then if you were at one side of the hall and Charmy was gone... then I can see how quickly he can wipe the goggles off and carry the body up the stairs should he have used his powers. Goodness though... I believe that it's important to look at a case at every angle, but it seems like each time we find something new, it seems to dig Silver's grave more and more..."

"Not like I'm too concerned about that. I need my revenge for what he did to Storm... you don't FUCK with the Babylon Rogues, at all! And sure, I guess for that annoying hedgehog too. But mainly Storm!"

"Still though, how long were you guys waiting for Tikal?" I asked.

"I dunno... maybe like two minutes? I did hear her dry heaving and then washing her hands, so it wouldn't be that long."

"Two minutes to wipe the goggles and carry Storm? If Silver did do it... then that's exceptionally fast."

I felt like there was more to it, but hearing about both the alibi, as well as Jet's discovery of the soft cloth, it gave me quite a bit more information. With that, I had my sixth and seventh clues respectively, Storm's cleaning goggles and Jet's testimony.

"I don't think there's much in here left to do," Espio said. "Where do you suppose we head out now?"

"I think... we should maybe look at the bodies one more time," I replied.

"Good idea," Jet said. "I'll keep looking here. But before you do that, you guys wanna drink of water?"

"Oh, please," Espio nodded. The hawk walked over to the mini fridge by the right side of the wall and opened it up. When I looked over to see what it was...

I found quite a lot blood packets. Jet I could see looked shocked by the discovery and quickly shut the door.

"Eh... heh heh... never mind about the water."

"Ah, what a shame. Come Charmy," Espio said as he walked out of the room. I buzzed behind him as we heard Jet get up from the floor.

* * *

When we were both in the hall, we were stopped by a sudden voice.

"Wait."

We turned in the direction of the voice to find Wave walking towards us. "So, this is where you were this whole time. I've been looking for you."

'If you're looking for Jet, he's right in there," I said, pointing towards the door to the infirmary.

"Oh, I'll talk to Jet in a minute. But in the meantime, thanks for the help."

"Thanks? Uh, Wave... did you get hit by one of those Wrenches of Power or something? You're never thankful towards us."

"Oh, can it. Can't I actually be nice for once? Tch, well it doesn't matter. Thanks to what you two were talking about earlier, I think it helped me understand this case a little more."

I could see Wave hold her arm and mutter something I couldn't make out under her breath.

"Anyway, as a way to thank you, lemme tell you something that'll make your life easier when it comes to this case. It's what I like to call, a hint. Go to Silver's room."

"Silver's room? What could be there?" Espio asked.

"Something. Oh, and let me give you this back, bee."

Wave handed me a slip of paper. Opening it up, I saw the familiar words of ' _Meet me in the dining hall!',_ the same message Silver gave to me yesterday to let me know to come to the bathhouse.

"Well, thank you for reminding me about this, but why do I need it?" I asked.

"Oh, you'll see," Wave smirked. "You'll find out soon that this is a trap."

"Huh?"

"Now Wave, where are you going with this?" Espio questioned.

"Zip it you," Wave spat. "I was talking to Charmy, NOT you. Besides, I repaid my debt. I don't owe you any explanation. Now if you'll excuse me..."

With that, the swallow entered the infirmary, leaving us two behind.

"Gaia, she can be so annoying sometimes!" I complained while writing down my eighth clue, Silver's message.

Still though, there was something about her parting words that made me stop and realize something.

She called me Charmy and not 'bee' for the first time.

* * *

Once we left the hall of the first floor, we returned to the dorms as Espio and I passed by room after room. We looked at the sprites on our doors with our names on them, thankful for the ones that were still alive, but sad at the ones who were dead. Seeing Knuckles and Shadow living next to one another, seeing Rouge's door just... again, and seeing Tails' room after the only discussion about him being about Ditz, there was an uncomfortable aura as we finally reached Silver's room.

"What do you think is waiting for us?" I asked as I pointed at the door.

"Hopefully not some kind of trap. I'm good as disarming them, so in the event that this is one, I'll open the door first and scout the room," Espio replied. He rang the doorbell and... no response.

"Why'd she tell us to check the room if no one answered?" I asked. Just then, Espio put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. Opening the door, we saw the inside of Silver's room. Much like Cream, Silver also had potted plants around his room, as well as several books and other objects thrown across the floor. I figured he mainly had them on the floor as he could just lift them up with his mind when he needed to move them.

"Goodness what a messy room..." Espio said, shaking his head. The two of us entered the room, looking around for ANYTHING that could lead us to another clue. Espio began to pick up some of the clothes on the floor while I examined a cardboard box by the foot of Silver's bed. Upon opening the box, I found something... peculiar.

The first thing I found in the box was blueprints for the robot we saw in Jet's picture. Along with that, we saw various kinds of art supplies such as cardboard, plastic, plaster, foam, spray paint, amongst many others. As the two of us dug through each box, we kept pulling out more and more incriminating evidence.

At last, we emptied the box to find a few sheets of paper containing more blueprints.

"What do you think about this, Espio?" I asked.

"This only incriminates Silver more," he said. "At this point, how can he be PROPERLY defended?"

I took another good look at the blueprints and squinted my eyes. "No... something about this isn't right. Look at the handwriting. Doesn't look like someone tried to make their handwriting as neat as possible but still failed?"

Espio took a look at the blueprints himself. "Now that you mention it... it does... Do you have any idea as to what it could mean?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But for now..."

I got out my PAD and wrote my ninth clue, the Mecha Sonic blueprints.

"What's even going on anymore?" I shook my head. "I... I'm kinda having doubts about Silver being the killer thanks to that. Not that he's certainly not SUSPICIOUS but..."

"I understand what you mean. This is why I feel it's important to look through a case from front to back."

"Weren't you saying that the evidence incriminates him more?"

"I never said it with 100% guarantee and that we should call our investigation finished, now did I?"

"...fair enough. Hey, do you think we should explore any more of this room?"

"Likely, Wave only wanted us to see the boxes in this room. That's why she told us to come here. I think we should leave."

"Good idea."

So the both of us got up from the floor and headed out of the room. But just mere seconds upon us closing the door.

"Charmy, Espio!"

We turned around to see Tikal down the hall, running towards us.

"Tikal? What happened?" I asked.

"It's... it's big! We found Vector!"

I could see Espio tense a bit. "Vector? You found him?!"

"And that's not all. We... we found Mecha Sonic too!"

"Vector AND Mecha Sonic?!"

"Sure enough, we were right. The person in Mecha Sonic... is Silver."

"I knew it..." I said under my breath. From how the costume looked from not only its appearance but also its height, as well as the whereabouts of our mystery Ultimate Telekinetic, it no doubt had to be Silver.

"A-Anyway, both of them were found in the pool area in the second floor! Please hurry as fast as you can!"

As Tikal ran off, Espio and I looked at each other, nodded, and began to speed off towards the pool.

* * *

When we arrived in the pool area, we saw everyone in the distance huddled by a locker towards the wall. Sure enough, like Tikal said, Vector was staring at the locker. We came running up only for him to turn around and notice us.

"VECTOOOOOR!" I said, hugging him. "Don't scare us like that again! We were worried about you when you vanished!"

"Likewise," Espio added. "You had me quite concerned. What business did you have to attend to?"

"Dun concern yerself with that right now," he replied. "What I think ya gotta be concerned with is-"

Vector pointed towards the locker. Espio walked towards it, opened it, and found... sure enough, Mecha Sonic simply standing in the locker.

"Why is he standing there menacingly?" I asked.

"He ain't standin' there just cause he feels like it. Pretty sure Silver's asleep. Oi!"

Vector kicked Mecha Sonic, and the sound of someone who had just been interrupted from a snore came out from Mecha Sonic.

"Wha- Who- What?!" said Silver. "O-Oh! Hey Vector! Man, I had the worst day! You wanna hear about it?"

"No. I found ya here, and now I wanna know why yer in that suit?"

"WHY I'm in this suit? Uhh... You know, pray tell, I don't know!"

"You fucking know why you're in that suit! Answer the croc!" Jet said.

"I wish I knew! One second I was asleep and the next second, I'm being kicked!"

"Ugh, just take off the dumb costume," Wave said. "It makes you look even MORE ridiculous than you already do."

"Ah... I... I dunno how! I can't get out of it! Uh... help!"

"Why would you even make something that you can't even take off?" Blaze shook her head.

"Pfft, I didn't make this stupid thing! If I did, then I WOULD have done such a thing!"

Big waddled over to the locker, pulled the Mecha Sonic costume out, and looked at its back. "There's something here... a... lock?"

"It's a clasp, Big," Tikal replied.

"Thank you, Ms. Tikal the Echdina... yeah, there's that there. Hold on, let me open it..."

Big opened the clasp, and, with the help of everyone, we got Silver out of the Mecha Sonic costume. His face looked rather flushed, almost as if he had limited oxygen while in the costume. However, he placed his hand on his chest, took a deep breath, and sighed.

"Man, that feels soooooo great!" he said, all sunshine and rainbows.

"Hey, I don't mean to alarm you all," Tikal said. "But isn't it weird how the outfit seems to perfectly fit Silver? I mean, it's the same height as him, and it's built like a hedgehog..."

"I think that nobody BUT dorkfest here could wear that!" Jet added. I could see Silver's happy expression drop as he began to sweat.

"H-Hang on there! I think that's just suspicious!"

"Don't even bother. The blueprints were in your room," Wave said. "That seems like something to indict you, doesn't it?"

"That's right, me and Espio saw it too," I added. I could see Tikal starting to glare at Silver as she started to walk slowly towards him.

"So... the only person ho could have put on the costume and attacked everyone is YOU, Silver!" Tikal jammed her finger into the white hedgehog's chest.

"I say we tie him up and gag him! Who's with me?!" Jet said. "You're gonna get the revenge of a FUCKING lifetime for what you did to Storm!"

"That's right... if it means you can be prevented from performing the ultimate sin again..."

The two started to walk closer to him until-

"No."

Vector's voice was stern as he said this. "Silver's our suspect, yeh. But he deserves fair treatment."

"Plus, I feel there may be more to this case than just assuming that Silver did it and calling it a day," Espio added.

"Yeah, that's right!" I said. "Besides, some new evidence might say so otherwise..."

"No one wants opinions from the lovebirds café or ESPECIALLY from their bee lovechild!" Jet said.

"Better I come from there than act like an immature brat such as yourself," Espio replied sternly.

I could hear Silver snicker as Jet glared at him with murder in his eyes.

"Not to mention, isn't it rather hasty for us to be jumping to conclusions? We keep doing this every trial. First, Charmy, then Rosie, and now Silver. The more we continue into this cycle, the more we continue to perpetuate the idea that we can't trust each other at all."

Tikal looked at Espio with remorse in her eyes. "You bring up a very good point and something I think we all should have considered... How foolish I feel..."

"Tch, whatever," Jet replied. "I still think dorkfest did it."

"But still... I hate doubting people..." Big said.

"Beisides, I don't even know what you guys are talking about!" Silver added. "I mean, what's this stuff about attacking and blueprints about anyway?"

"Are you ACTUALLY not sure, or is this a front?" Wave asked. "It seems even in spite of Espio's little 'speech', many of us are convinced you killed them."

"PLEEEEASE STOOOOP!" Silver was sobbing now. "I don't know what you're talking about! Who died and who even did it?!"

"Think back to the Mecha Sonic suit. He's the only one who could wear it, correct? Who else could be in it?" Tikal added.

"Why don't you try it then?! Go on, go on!"

Tikal began to pick up the pieces of the Mecha Sonic suit and put them all on piece by piece. However, she only got half way through to her waist when she suddenly began to bounce backwards.

"H-Hey! Someone please help me!"

Espio grabbed her from behind before she could fall.

"Thank you, Espio... But look here! I'm far too short for this! I can't see my feet and... augh... my legs hurt in this. I can't bend from my waist down at all..."

"It wasn't me! I swear!" Silver argued back.

With that, Tikal got the pieces off of her body and lay them on the ground.

"Tragically, whether or not you did it, the only truth is... only YOU could have fit into the robot suit, Silver!" she said.

"No I can't! It's cause you're a girl and short! I bet if it was a boy..."

"I'll volunteer," Espio said. He walked up to the suit and began to put it on. While it did fit him more than it did for Tikal, he quickly found that he was too tall for the suit, and complained that it was very uncomfortable for his tail.

"A-Alright! How about someone with the same height as me!"

"Fine, I'll prove you wrong," Jet said. He got into the suit and it fit him far better than it did for Tikal and Silver. But when he put the mask on...

 _RRRRIIPPPP_!

The front of the Mecha Sonic mask tore off thanks to Jet's beak.

"See?" he said through the suit. Wave helped him get it off as Silver began to ruffle his hair.

"Argh... oh... oh I know! It was Sonic! Sonic was the ONLY one who could wear something like this!"

We all looked at Silver in complete silence.

"What... what did I say?"

"Please... for ONCE in your life..." Wave replied. "SHUT. UP."

"Besides, it's not possible, Silver," I said. "Mecha Sonic is the one that killed Sonic."

"Wait, Sonic's DEAD?!" Silver replied with terror in his voice. "OH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Enough with the whining!" Jet said.

"L-Look! Maybe there's another suit! Maybe someone-"

Blaze interrupted him. "If you want THAT to be your defense, where's your proof?"

"Evidence?"

"You claim there's another suit, right? Then you have to find it and show it to us."

"What are you talking about?!"

"He's still the only one with an alibi!" Jet said.

"What's even HAPPENING?!"

I stared at the pieces of the Mecha Sonic costume and knew I had to write them down. I had my tenth clue, Mecha Sonic himself.

"What's even going on, Charmy?!" Silver said in a state of panic. "All I know is that Sonic died and this suit thing is responsible!"

"It's not just Sonic. Storm's dead too. Apparently, someone in the Mecha Sonic suit did it."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't act surprised! We know you did it!" Jet argued back.

"I did NOOOOOOOOT!"

Suddenly, Silver's demeanor changed.

"Actually... wait... no, that makes sense!"

"What makes sense?" Vector asked.

"Okay, listen to this! Sonic and Jet were fighting over Ditz, right? Well, I bet its one true love was Jet, and they didn't care about Sonic anymore! So, WHAM! Ditz killed Sonic! It's responsible!"

The silence and look of absolute confusion and awe we had on our face was prevalent. All we could hear was the sound of the waves in the pool.

"Can we duct tape his mouth shut. Like, NOW?" Wave asked.

"Look, I know everything about me seems suspicious, but you have to believe me! You have it all wrong! Wait a minute... wait a minute, wait a minute!"

"NOW what?"

"There's something I should mention... I got a weird note last night under my door. I even remember what it said. It said something along the lines of, "I found a hole in the Rec Room. Egg Robo can't find out, so make sure to not go to anyone else. Meet me there at 1 am". The last thing I remember though was going there and just... falling asleep. I bet the REAL killer drugged me!"

"With what though?" Tikal asked.

"The chemicals in the infirmary, that's what," Vector replied. "I found chloroform there, so it's not unlikely to imagine that was used to drug Silver.

"See! Someone's trying to set me up!" Silver said, pointing at the crocodile. "Some hole... they wrote that to trick me!"

"You must be one giant idiot to believe that," Jet shook his head and then laughed. "Oh wait, we're talking about you here!"

"Hey, you gotta take any chance you can! If someone promises escape, you'd take that over anything! GAH! They preyed on me!"

"Still don't buy it."

"Well you SHOULD!"

"You mentioned something about a note, right?" Blaze asked. "Then where is it?"

"No problem! I have it right-"

Silver began to dig through his pockets but stopped. His face grew less happy by the second as he looked through all of his pants pockets, as well as the pockets on his hoodie.

"I have it right... right..."

He began to grit his teeth and he put every pocket he had inside out.

"Oh man, I can't find it..."

"So now you just happened to 'lose' an important piece of evidence? Typical! How typical!" Jet said.

"PLEEEASE, YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE MEEEE!"

"Silver, I want to believe you, but... there's just too much evidence piling on," Espio said. "That's why we keep assuming you did it, even if blaming everyone doesn't get us anywhere. Anytime we find a clue, it points to you."

"Plus, you have to actually convince us that there is SOME kind of evidence for us to believe you," Wave said. "Saying is different than doing.

"Nooo!" Silver pulled his hair and just shook his head.

"Charmy, Silver's testimony might be important for the trial coming up," Espio whispered towards me. "Now might be a good time to write that down."

"On it," I nodded, writing my eleventh clue; Silver's testimony.

"Now then, since we're done with... this pathetic excuse of a person, I say it's time we continue our investigation. There's no time to waste before the trial begins again," said Wave.

"Unfortunately, unless something big is revealed at the end, I think we know who we need to look out for," Tikal said, glaring at Silver. "Silver... Was it really for the money? Please tell me it wasn't... I wan't to believe you..."

"THAT'S A FALSE ACCUSATION! I-"

"STOP IT."

Tikal and Silver looked at Vector.

"If ya wanna squabble like children, fine. I dun care. But Tikal, stop with the game of pointin' fingers, and Silver, yer not automatically guilty. Stop with the waterworks. The point of the trial is to find the truth, and that's what we're gonna do."

"I... I'm sorry, Vector... You're right, I shouldn't be acting like this..." Tikal looked at the ground, very guilty.

"I know..." Silver nodded his head. "Besides, I should go look for that note, shouldn't I? It'll be the proof that I need!" He then began to run off. "FEET DON'T FAIL ME NOOOOOW!"

As he ran off, Blaze looked at the door Silver left through. "You know, couldn't he just levitate, being someone with ESP after all?"

"I think it's best we don't question ANYTHING he does," Wave said. "I find that I just get mentally exhausted doing so."

As everyone began to walk away from the locker, returning to their investigation, Vector walked up to Espio and I.

"Hey, if ya dun mind, I wanna help yeh two with yer investigation," he said. "I know I'm late, so I just need a quick rundown of everythin' so far."

"Oh, uh sure!" I said, before getting cut off by Espio before I could say anything else.

"I just need to know... where were you? Can you at least tell us?"

"No," Vector said boldly.

"Dang, denied like that..." I said, looking at Espio. He looked down, giving me a disapproving look. "What? It's true."

"Anyway, as long as yer not askin' me 'bout that, we can go on with the investigation. So, mind fillin' me in?"

"Okay, so here's what basically went down..."

* * *

As we walked back to the supply closet in the artist's studio, Espio and I explained everything to Vector from the victims, to Mecha Sonic, to the disappearing bodies, and other details and clues that I found.

Rosie was still guarding the bodies and still holding her hammer, however I noticed that her face was wet almost like she was crying. I ignored her though as Vector walked closer to the bodies.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?..." Rosie questioned.

"Checkin' the bodies," he replied.

"I thought I said NO ONE can touch my Darling Sonikku!"

"And I thought ya weren't wantin' to die brutally at the hands of Egg Robo when he executes us all while the real killer gets away. Now move."

As Vector crouched down, he shook his head. I could hear him mutter under his breath, _"Why the hell both Storm and Sonic though?... What do they have in common?"_

Espio and I stood over the detective as we saw him examining the bodies, from pulling up quills and feathers to trying to find signs of struggle on the body.

"Well, at least the EggPAD was right," he said. "They were killed using similar weapons. What was it called? The Wrench of Power?"

We nodded our heads.

"What else did you find?" I asked.

Vector began to feel around the bodies some more. First, he started with Sonic's body, but he stopped just seconds later.

"Wait a minute..."

I could see Vector grabbing Sonic's wrist, where I saw a wristwatch on there.

"Charmy, Espio, did ya always remember Sonic wearing this?"

"I remember him wearing it yesterday," I said. "He was mad at me and jamming it in my face, which was super annoying."

"Why is the watch important?" Espio asked. Vector then held the arm closer to us as I could see Rosie fuming from the corner of her eye, ready to strike at Vector at any second.

"See right here? The hour and minute hands aren't movin'. I think it broke when he was attacked. The hand's also frozen past 6 A.M. too."

"So that means the watch was broken sometime after six?"

"Then that has to mean that was the time he was attacked! At least, as long as it wasn't changed to throw us off. Couldn't it be manually changed even if... let's say, the battery is dead?"

Trying to prove my theory wrong, Vector attempted to change the time on the watch, but had no such luck. "I dun think so. If I can't change it from here, then likely whoever attacked him couldn't have done so. Besides, it was workin' last night. How could the battery have died that night after we left the bathhouse conveniently?

"Actually... yeah, you have a good point."

But this did mean something if the watch couldn't be changed after being damaged. There's no way the battery would just die, so that meant Sonic had to have died at 6. With that, I wrote my twelfth clue; the Broken Wristwatch.

"Hold on."

Vector now was looking at Sonic's hand. It was in a fist, almost like he had been holding onto something.

"Is that paper?" Espio asked.

"I think so. Charmy, Espio, I need yer help getting it out."

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Rosie yelled. "What did I say? NO. ONE. TOUCHES. MY. DARLING. **SONIKKU**!"

"Yer 'darlin' is holdin' onto key evidence. We're not gonna be diggin' through his pants or somethin'?"

"Why is that your example?" I asked.

"Let's just say, in this field of work, ya have to do a lot of dirty work."

"Gross."

"To yeh? Yes. To me? It's what I call my profession."

With that, we surrounded Sonic's hand as I could feel just how cold it was. Just feeling it made me feel sad all over again as reality began to set in. I still did find it hard to believe that he was dead. He bragged about how he was going to solve the mystery of this zone and get out and kill Egg Robo. And yet, here he was in a pool of his own blood.

Espio pried open his fingers with his kunai while Vector held a firm grip on Sonic's arm so we weren't getting a shaky hand while doing so. Meanwhile, when Espio was finally able to pry open the fingers, I was able to grab what was in Sonic's hand thanks to having the smallest hand.

But what I saw made all three of us confused.

It was simply just a slip of blank, torn paper.

"That's it?" I asked.

"All that work for nothing?" Espio added. Vector scratched his chin and looked at the sheet, almost like it held more than we knew about. He then looked at Storm's body.

"This is gonna sound strange, but hear me out. Examine Storm's hand."

"His hand?"

"And Charmy, be sure to write that down,"

Nodding, I wrote down my thirteenth clue; Sonic's scrap of paper. All three of us proceeded to walk over to the albatross' hand as we noticed, like Sonic, his hand was curled into a fist.

"Do you think he had the paper in there?" I asked.

"Only one way to find out," Vector replied as he held Storm's arm in place for Espio and I to open up. But when we finally got his fingers open... there was no such paper.

"That's weird, why would die with his hand curled up in a fist but not have anything?" Espio asked. Vector looked over Storm's body and began to dig around the pockets in his pants.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing, Vector?!" I questioned, flabbergasted he'd do this.

"Calm down. I think I already found somethin',"

Sure enough, Vector pulled out a wad of paper from the pocket and handed it to me.

"Open it up, Charmy. See what it says."

Doing what he requested, I found that the paper was a note with a torn off corner.

"What does it say?" Espio asked. I cleared my throat and began reading.

 _"I found a hole in the Physics Lab repository. Egg Robo can't find out, so make sure to not go to anyone else. Meet me there at 6 am."_

"That note..." Vector said. "It's like the one Silver got."

"You're right!" I nodded. "Only... Silver's was at like, 1 am right? And at the Rec Room, not the repository!"

"Then was Silver telling the truth?" asked Espio. Vector nodded.

"I think so. But it's weird how both notes are the same, yet request to meet at different times at different places."

"Why would they wanna meet both Silver and Storm at different times anyway?" I asked.

"Wait a minute. Just cause Storm had the note doesn't mean it was meant for him. Doncha notice a little thing or two 'bout the note?"

"You mean the torn corner?"

"Think about it fer a minute. When ya do, I know yer gonna come up with the right answer when the time comes."

"Wouldn't it be easier to tell me?"

"No."

So much for that.

Still though, this note had to be something big. So, I wrote it as my fourteenth clue.

"By the by, dun think 'bout the PAD's this time. I dun think they were in anyway involved with the murders," Vector continued.

"Are you certain about this?" Espio asked.

"Positive. Ya have mah word on it."

And then, before we could get up from the floor...

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The zone crest displayed on the monitor in the room as Egg Robo soon appeared seconds later.

 _"I would like to say this class trial is going to be delayed just like a certain other video game that rhymes with Blonic Headventure Bree, but it's not! Are you excited? Are you pumped because it's not?! Well you better be, because the next class trial is about to begin! So everyone? Please meet at the usual spot! Ho ho ho... see you SOON!"_

The monitor turned off as Vector got up. "So, looks like our investigation came to an end. Charmy, Espio, yeh two did a good job. However, yeh need to come up with yer own conclusion."

"Yeah, you're right... but shouldn't you tell us since you seem to know something we don't?" I asked.

"Again, it would make mah job too easy, and the point of these trials is to find out who did it, not to take the backseat and let the others decide it."

"Vector's right, Charmy. While we were given a bunch of clues, it's up to you to solve this case," Espio added.

"Yeah... you're right," I replied. "We should get going now. Although... guys? Do you wanna walk with me there?"

"Walk? Well, I don't mind. Vector?"

The crocodile looked a little confused, almost as if he couldn't understand why someone was being so nice to him.

"Come on, Vector! Don't be such a negative nancy!" I took his hand as Rosie walked passed us, sounding like a feral animal. I could see Espio mutter about how I was, 'so sweet' as I somehow surprised Vector into silence the whole way.

* * *

The three of us arrived in front of the double red doors. The red doors that led to two executions, and sure enough... would lead into yet another one. As usual, I could feel the negative aura just emanating from the doors.

"No matter how many times I see this door, I always get the chills," I said.

"Tragically, it's what we must do," Espio replied. "We'll find out the murderer."

He went on ahead as Vector turned around to look at me. "Remember what I said Charmy. Think back to the clues ya got so far. They should be the key to solvin' this case,"

The crocodile went on ahead as I took a few deep breaths, buzzed towards the doorknob, turned it, and stepped inside. When I did, I saw Rosie staring right at Silver with murder in her eyes.

"You... pot leaf head... you... you KILLED MY DARLING **SONIKUUUUUUUUUUU?!** "

"I never did such a thing!" Silver replied, holding the hood of his hoodie about his head.

"I HEARD IT FROM EVERYONE ELSE! YOU'RE GONNA DIE! YOU'RE GONNA FUCKING DIE YOU ABSOLUTE SACK OF SHIIIIIT!"

"I hope for Gaia's sake she's the blackened so we don't have to hear from her again," Jet said, rolling his eyes. "Storm..."

Wave looked at Jet with sadness in her eyes. "It's gonna be alright, Jet. We'll find the culprit and put them to justice."

"Wave... what's gonna happen to the Babylon Rogues now?"

"...I don't know."

Just then, Egg Robo popped into the room.

"Whew boy, small crowd today, huh?" he said. "Let's see here... Charmy, Vector, Espio, Jet, Wave, Big, Blaze, Rosie, Silver, Tikal... only nine people left? Wow this killing game sure is working!"

"Enough with this stupid shit!" Jet yelled. "I just wanna get this over with and sentence whoever killed Storm to death! It's already bad enough that he's dead but RUBBING IT IN OUR FACES IS-"

"Jet, that's enough," Blaze said. "You can save that energy for the trial."

He sighed and then turned around, only turning his head to face Silver. "I hope you like your execution, dorkfest..."

Silver only made noises when he heard that. "P-Please! I'm not mentally prepared yet! I still need to channel my inner gods and goddesses!"

"I believe even the gods are looking down on you, still ashamed even if you didn't do it," Tikal said, following the others onto the elevator.

"Did you ever find that other costume or the note though?" Wave asked. Silver shook his head. "Not even that one task? Wow, pathetic. Makes sense for who you are though."

She then got onto the elevator as I could see every part of his body shake.

"PLEEEEEASE CHARMY!" he said, running over to me and putting his hands on my shoulder. "You need to stop whatever's gonna happen to me! Don't let me die!"

"I... I promise but can you let go? Your grip is too hard."

Silver did just that as he began to sob. "I'M NOT GUILTYYYY!"

"I know you aren't but we have to prove that you aren't."

Silver continued to sob, ignoring me. I sighed and buzzed to the elevator as Big dragged the crying Silver to the elevator as the door shut. The elevator started to move down as I began to panic. To think that the person who killed both Sonic and Storm... was someone standing in this very same elevator... it made me panic.

I looked at the crowd of people in the elevator. Just like Egg Robo said, it was sad to think there were so few people now. We already lost two people when Cream and Rouge died, but for it to happen AGAIN?

I didn't want to think about it. I chose to focus on the sound of the elevator until we finally reached our destination. When we arrived and the doors opened, we saw our next courtroom. It was similar to the last one, only that the red walls and curtains were now blue and mauve, the lamps were now small chandeliers, and the checkerboard floor was now white and tan. I also noticed, just like last time, far fewer curtains.

But the biggest thing I noticed were three new portraits by stands. Shadow, Storm, and Sonic, all three of their pictures in black and white with a bloody X over each, just like the other portraits.

Egg Robo then appeared in the middle of the stands. "Third class trial and a new courtroom! You know, I love redecorating this stuff! You might even see me on the next episode of Mobius' Heavy Redecorating! I was in the last episode of the series cause I punished my interior decorator! I think he did enjoy getting steamrolled by all those carpets!"

"Enough of this! Let's get this over with!" Jet said, running to his stand. "I'm begging you Storm... lend me your strength through this!"

"Well, you see how impatient Mr. Hawk is! Let's get this started! I don't wanna cut this trial before it begins like it's a new episode of a TV show, but it seems like that's what I'm gonna have to do!"

Once again, we walked over to our stands, and once again, the curtains of despair opened. This would no doubt be another case of judgement, deception, betrayal, riddles, defenses, faith...

All of them combined leading to this deadly Class Trial!

Egg Robo grinned once we all got in our assigned stands, took his mallet, and descended the four-sided monitor down, slamming his gavel down...

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	24. Chapter 3 (Class Trial (Part 1))

**(AN: Welcome to the Class Trial of Chapter 3! I'm so sorry this took so long to make. This trial was a lot longer than I'd thought it'd be. Like, a hell of a lot longer. In fact, this first part alone is 10k words. Is it a lot? Absolutely, so I would def recommend getting a snack or two while you read, cause this trial is gonna be a bumpy ride.**

 **And as we begin, thank you for 3k views on this fic so far!)**

* * *

 _And now, the students of Green Hills face two murders. Who claimed the lives of Storm and Sonic? With only less than ten people, suspicion will grow more as either one person dies by the end... or all but one!_

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL**

 **ALL RISE!**

* * *

Egg Robo did his usual as he cleared his throat and shifted into his chair, getting comfortable.

"Ahem, let's begin with a basic introduction of the class trial, so your votes will determine the results! The purpose of the class trial is to figure out "Who did it?". If you can find it out, only the blackened who committed murder will receive their punishment. But... if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone else besides the blackened, and the one who deceived everyone else will graduate!"

Once again, getting comfy in his chair. "Alright, so we know that speedy and sturdy got offed, so now what we need to do is-"

Tikal stopped him. "We don't need to do that."

"Wuzzat?"

"Unless something new comes up this trial, I don't believe we need to come up with anything. Because... Silver is our main suspect. And while I hate to point fingers... all of our clues so far point to him being the only one."

"Yeah, that's right!" Jet said. "He has NO alibi for when not only when Storm and I were attacked, but when him and that annoying hedgehog got offed! AND we found him in the suit!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, YA DUMMY ROBOT! THAT LITTLE SHIT KILLED MY DARLING SONIKKU!" Rosie screamed, holding her hammer.

"I did none of that!" Silver screamed, holding his head. "Someone knocked me out, I... I was asleep the whole time! I said I don't know anything about it!"

I could hear the franticness in Silver's voice clearly as he sounded a bit higher pitched than usual.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MURDERER! YOU'RE GONNA RECEIVE MY SPECIAL HAMMER FROM HELL THE MORE YOU TALK!"

"YOU'RE the one to call me a murderer?!"

"Besides, I heard about all the evidence from Wave!" Jet said. "The blueprints for the suit, the parts too, both found in YOUR room! It points to you having created the suit and committing crime after crime!"

"So Silver, any defense?" Blaze asked.

"I... I..."

"I didn't think so."

"Guys?... I don't think Mr. Silver the Hedgehog did anything..." Big said.

"Of course you don't, Big. Just sit there and let us adults do the rest. This is far too complicated for you."

"I don't like the insinuation..."

"Look guys! I... How many times do I have to say it?! I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" Silver said as he started to shake.

"Enough with the sob story. If ya say yer not it, then I know ya can prove it. And I ain't sayin' this to say, 'Oh, give me proof', but as motivation," Vector said. Silver only looked at the crocodile. He DID have a point though... was Silver REALLY the killer? And could that be disproven?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Dude, EVERYTHING in your room, from the blueprints, to the parts, it's all proof that you did it!" Jet said.

"I dunno anything about that stuff! It's a lie!" Silver replied.

"Silver please... it's okay to confess the truth," Tikal held her arm.

"No, I... I DIDN'T!"

"If my theory is correct and you DID kill Storm..." Wave said, looking at Silver with a glint in her eye. "I'll take you down in one strike."

"PLEASE, NO! SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM THAT!"

As everyone was arguing, I looked back to my clues. I noted that the blueprints did look neat but just a little messy. Perhaps something about how Jet mentioned the blueprints was different?

Well, it was worth a shot.

"No, that's wrong!" I said, pointing at the group of people arguing.

"What's wrong? I was just about to say how I'm innocent. Do... do you not believe me TOO, Charmy?!" Silver continued to bemoan.

"No, it's not that. It's what Jet said."

"What I said?" the hawk replied, confused. That's where I held up the note Wave had given to me earlier.

"Look at this note. This was given to me by Silver yesterday when he wanted me to meet up in the dining hall after Di-"

I stopped myself, looking at Egg Robo who was sound asleep.

"I mean, the THING, disappeared. But doesn't the handwriting look really neat?"

"I... guess so? I dunno, bee! I don't care about specifics like handwriting!"

"You should, because let's compare it to the blueprints. Egg Robo?"

The robot, who woke up when he heard his name, looked at me with a tired look in his eyes. "Huh? Oh right, evidence..." He yawned, pressing a button on his chair. "Here you go..."

The four-sided monitor shot down as a picture of the blueprints popped up.

"See? The handwriting on this note and the blueprints don't match if that really was Silver's penmanship."

"Exactly," Vector said. "Even if Silver rushed it, I'm sure it would be neat."

"Couldn't he just disguise it?" Jet asked. "Like, purposely make it seem like someone else's?"

"I don't think so. The differences are far and in between," Espio replied. "What would be the point of trying to hide your penmanship if you were just going to hide the blueprints in your room?"

"Yeah, we all know I'm not smart enough to even consider doing something like that!" Silver added.

"So, Charmy... are you saying that Silver is NOT our culprit?" Blaze asked.

"No, it's not just the bee and his pair of reptile friends too," Wave spoke up. "I'm starting to believe that Silver is innocent too,"

"Wave!" Jet scolded. "There's so much proof! What do you MEAN he didn't do it?!"

"I didn't name anyone just yet. But I'm sure if we go through this trial, we'll find that out,"

"Tch, well I still think he did it..."

"Okay, but who was in the Mecha Sonic suit then?" Tikal asked. "Was Silver correct in saying that there were two suits?"

"Well, Charmy? Now is the perfect time for one of your, 'Let me explain why you're wrong' moments," Wave said, eyes staring straight at me. My antennae fell, knowing that as usual, stuff like this was passed on to me. Gosh, why did I make, 'No, that's wrong!' my permanent catchphrase?

Still, now was the perfect time to debunk the theory. It's true that Silver could be the only one who could fit in the suit since everything about it was designed so that someone like him could use it. Jet had the same height, but the face ripped due to his beak, and the others were either too tall or too short.

Which means...

"I got!" I said. "Well... it's gonna be weird but... hear me out. Other than Silver, no one else could have worn the suit.

"What do you mean? You're arguing that Silver didn't do it! And yet, you're saying he was in the suit!" Tikal argued back. I'm not sure why she was being defensive. Maybe she felt strongly to the deaths and started pulling back on the pacifism? Who knew. All I knew was that Wave spoke up for me next.

"No, that's not what the bee is saying. It's true that Silver is our prime suspect, and even though we found no second suit, JUST because he was in the suit doesn't mean he's the murderer."

"If what you're trying to imply, Wave..." Espio said. "Then... Silver had nothing to do with this?"

"That's right. The culprit in this case has nothing to do with the Mecha Sonic suit!"

I knew it. I knew that things seemed to point at Silver far too much, and while evidence still stacked high, there still was a lot of unanswered questions. Tikal even looked very surprised.

"Is... is that true?" she asked.

"It is, pacifist girl. And as the trial continues, I'm sure you'll definitely understand why that's the case."

"I... I see... I feel foolish being so angry over this..."

"I'll say! You were trying to get me convicted so fast!" Silver replied.

"I-I'm sorry! I just... I just don't want to deal with another trial... I want this to just end... I don't want to suffer the horror of watching ANOTHER brutal execution..."

Vector looked at her with a soft look in his eye. "Tikal, none of us wanna do this either. But unfortunately, it's the culprit's life, or our lives. The choice is yers."

She looked down, starting to softly cry. "I... I understand... Please, give me a moment. I promise I'll participate in the trial. I just... need to be alone with my thoughts."

"Fair enough. Anyway, let's continue."

"Before we move on, I think it's important we talk about one thing," Wave said. "And that's the method of transportation of Sonic's lifeless body."

"Now THIS I need to know! I need to know WHICH one of you crotchgoblins even HANDLED my Darling Sonikku!" Rosie replied, waving her hammer around.

"Who handled him? Well, we still don't know who or what. But there are a few hints. Charmy? Mind telling us?"

There were two things in particular in the scene of the crime once Sonic's body vanished. Looking back at my clues, they were easy enough to find.

"At the scene, there was one thing we found. Half of a footprint. We didn't get to examine whose it could be, but that means that someone stepped over the blood pool while carrying him. And yes, notice how I said carry," I said. "When Sonic's body was dropped off in the supply closet of the artist's studio, there was a towel with blood on it near his wound. If my theory is correct... someone may have stepped over the pool of blood while trying to lift Sonic, and used the towel to prevent blood from leaking onto the floor."

"Hold on, bee!" Jet said. "What about the dolly, eh? There was one in the supply closet that you found, and Wave was telling me about how there were tire marks on the pool in the repository of the physics lab! What about those, huh?!"

"Here's the thing... I don't think the dolly was used."

"What? It was there though!"

"What I'm trying to say is... whoever lifted Sonic's body likely used the dolly to roll over the pool of blood, and then took it with them to make it SEEM like that was used to transport Sonic's body. It wasn't just the dolly too. Remember the tarp under his body as well? What purpose does the tarp fit?"

"If you're saying that Sonic was carried... maybe the killer lifted the tarp that contained Sonic's body? There's no way you can lift a dead body, a dolly, and a tarp all at once," Blaze said.

"That's why I'm saying dorkfest did it! There's NO way someone could lift all of those at once! Even if you were strong!"

"But what about when the body was first found?..." Big asked.

"Huh?"

"Big... that was actually a really good question!" I said.

"Oh... it was?... I'm glad I could help!..." he then smiled, proud of himself.

"Actually, lemme answer that. When I went over to Espio and his group, where I first discovered Sonic's body, I noticed that the dolly was sitting right on the floor and was perfectly fine. Guys? Can you confirm this?"

"That's right," Wave replied. "There were no tire marks on the pool of blood, and the dolly was perfectly fine."

"And they only appeared AFTER we came to check up on Amy, correct?" Blaze asked.

"Geez, someone came into the room while stinky pinky was knocked out colder than some virgin on their 21st birthday?! GOSH, I should have woken up then and there and given that person the murder of a lifetime!" Rosie added.

"Anyway..." I continued. "When we rediscovered the bodies in the supply closet, the dolly, just like the tarp, were both right there."

"Wait, are you sure about that?" Jet asked. "The tarp yeah, but what about the dolly? By then, whoever took Sonic back had no reason to leave it there! You're just asking to have the finger pointed at you leaving it there!"

"Huh?"

"Well Charmy? He's raised an objection," Wave replied while Jet smirked in my direction.

"Look, bee, there's no need to be wrong. No one expects anything from a loser like you, so you might as well tell us whatever ridiculous answer it could be. Besides, we all know you're such a scatterbrained dolt, I'm even SURPRISED if you can answer back!"

I glared at Jet. Wanna call me all those, huh? Okay, two can play at that game.

"That's right! You have it wrong!" he continued. "I mean... you're so pathetic... Didn't your mom tell you lies aren't gonna get you anywhere you annoying little pest! Are you absolutely-"

In the middle of his little insult speech, I caught Jet off guard. "This should prove it! The bloodstain in the supply closet!"

I could see Jet step back, looking intimidated. "W-What?!"

"If you need proof, Jet... then I have it right here. When Espio and I were exploring the supply closet, we found the dolly on the floor. Not to mention... the tire had a bloodstain on it. Remember, we were talking about that earlier. It wasn't hidden or anything. It was in plain sight. Not just the dolly, but the tire marks in the pool of blood in the repository. But of COURSE... we don't expect dumb hawks to understand, now do we?"

I could hear Blaze giggle as Jet silently fumed.

"Now, as for moving the body... well, we explained that, didn't we?"

"We... we did," the hawk replied through gritted teeth.

"So, we should get back on track," Wave said.

"Well, why don't we talk about Mecha Sonic?" Tikal asked. "While I am convinced now that Silver didn't do it, just... what WAS it exactly?"

"If you need an explanation, I can explain how whoever was in the suit didn't do it. Namely, what I'm going to use as my proof should be obvious. Think back to that footprint we found, and now, think back to the feet of the robot."

"The feet?..." Big asked.

"That's right!" I said. "The feet was... kinda blobish looking, right? Eh... I'll be honest, I didn't pay much attention to it..."

"Of course you didn't..." Wave scowled at me. "Anyway... there's more than that, so I'll keep going."

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, Sonic was killed in the supply closet in the artist's studio. From there, the body was moved from there to the repository of the physics lab," Wave began.

"That's right..." Big replied. "They picked up Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog and wrapped him a towel, making sure he didn't bleed..."

"Now I want you to keep in mind, the robot suit not only has no eyeholes, but also the fact that the killer had to carry not just Sonic, but also the dolly and the tarp to make it seem like that's how he was transported."

"Well, let's say that the killer couldn't see..." Tikal said. "Couldn't they just bend down and feel around?"

"If I'm getting this right, the killer with that suit on, picked up my Darling Sonikku bridal style and took him away?!" Rosie screamed. "ALL WHILE I NEVER GOT TO DO THAT?!"

"No, if you accept everything I said, then the person in the suit isn't the killer."

"Guys? I'm lost. Like, for real," Silver said, looking confused.

Well, I wasn't. We know that Sonic was carried, but with having no vision? You couldn't just feel around the floor, and there's one reason I know why!

"Ah, Charmy. It seems you're about to tell someone that they're wrong," Espio said. "Who is it this time?"

"It's what Tikal said," I replied.

"Huh? What I said?"

"It's true that you CAN feel your environment if you were blind, but you couldn't just crouch to feel around. Remember when you tried to use the suit, Tikal? What did you remember about it?"

"Well... I remember that it was far too short for me, and that I couldn't bend at the waist."

It took a minute, but when she realized it. "Wait, do you mean?!"

"Yeah. No matter how well you could fit in the suit, you can't bend at the waist. Which means you can't just bend down on the ground and feel around it. Am I right?"

Tikal looked defeated. "Actually... yeah, you're right. I'm sorry for trying to cast doubt on that."

"It would seem hard to move around if you couldn't just stay low and feel the ground, not knowing when a wall was coming or not," Espio said. "In fact, even bigger than that... how could the person in the suit even have bent down to pick up Sonic if he couldn't even bend at the waist?"

"There could be someway if you picked him up from a specific angle," Blaze said. "Of course, in a suit like that, the likelihood of it seems very slim."

"Because it's flat out impossible," Wave added. "He was picked up with the towel on his head. This would mean that the killer had to either, A. pick up Sonic WHILE holding the towel over his head, or, B. pick up Sonic first then put the towel over his head. However, if B is the case, then blood would have already dripped onto the floor. And I don't think any of us have the dexterity to do something like that."

"Well, what's stopping you from removing parts of the suit to see, then coming back and retrieving them?" Jet asked.

"Because it's impossible," I said. "There's no chance that parts of it can come off because once it's on you, it's on you. Think back to when we found Silver-"

"I didn't FIND pot lead head, remember?" Rosie replied.

"Right. Basically, there was a latch on the back of the Mecha Sonic suit. Silver said himself that he couldn't get it off. Likely, the way the suit was designed, he couldn't just reach his back and take the latches off."

"Which means that you likely can't put the suit on without help," Espio said.

"And that means that if he COULD have gotten it off by himself, what's the point of wearing the suit if it decreased his mobility? Think about it. Silver is the Ultimate Telekinetic. While it's easy to argue that he could levitate people, then how does that explain how he got into the suit by himself? Because even I don't think his ESP powers could extend to putting the suit on."

"Yeah, that's right!" Silver argued back.

"And this means that whoever DID move the body wasn't Silver in the suit. If he just appeared like that in the suit, it was an invitation for us to suspect him. Even if his powers extended to that, why bother putting the suit on yourself when EVERYONE will suspect you?" Tikal asked.

It seemed like this trial was going forward, at least until...

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jet said. "We're losing track of things! I'm not convinced! Cause..." He then began to dig in his pockets, pulling out his camera. "What about the photo I took?"

"The one of you and Mecha Sonic?"

"Yeah! I definitely felt a person who knew where they were going. They didn't crash into any walls or anything! How is Silver NOT the culprit then? We said that he's the only one who could fit in the suit, AND I know when someone or something is dragging me, and that thing was clearly dragging me! And besides, did you forget Storm and I said? Mecha Sonic was the one who hurt us BOTH! The guy wearing the suit and the culprit are the same, so dorkfest? Any last words?!"

"Actually... when you put it like that, he DOES make a very good point. This photo clearly was taken, they were both attacked, and who's to say Silver couldn't have memorized it? Of course, whether or not Silver is the killer is still up for debate but I think we need to look at that possibility."

"You're just blaming me again, only being nicer about it!" Silver yelled, hands on his head.

"No, Tikal," Vector said. "It's still far too early to come to that conclusion. Besides, do we really gotta hurry 'bout findin' the killer? Just think 'bout it. If it was this easy, dontcha think that there's somethin' behind WHY this case was so much easier than the rest? That's why we need to explore every last possibility to the end. Crime ain't solved by one person sticking to one theory. They're solved by everyone comin' together and analyzin' every issue with the biggest magnifyin' glass they can get their hands on."

"As you say so, Vector," Espio replied. "So, where shall we begin from here?"

"First, let's start with everything we know up to when we woke up. That way, we should get an idea as to what went down and we can find somethin' new."

"I DON'T CARE!" screamed Rosie. "I just wanna find out who killed my Darling Sonikku!"

"Oh, we'll find that out. But the more ya continue to scream and be emotional 'bout it, the more yer gonna come to false conclusions. But I can guarantee you, yer gonna know who's Sonic's killer by the end of this."

This shut Rosie up, which I was surprised about.

"I'm hoping our review of this case will also help shed light as to where you were, Vector," Tikal replied. "I'm still concerned about that."

"Yeah, that we're NOT doin'."

"Anyway... let us begin. I shall start with our review of everything that occurred," Espio said. "Let's start at this morning. At seven, myself, Vector, Charmy, Tikal, Big, Blaze, and Amy all appeared at the dining hall. We waited for the others, but for about an hour, no one showed up. Then, just as we decided to look for them, Storm came bursting into the dining hall, telling us frantically that he and Jet encountered Mecha Sonic, and Jet was abducted while he was attacked. We decided to split up and look for Jet, but we found Wave just as we were about to leave. She then proceeded to join us in our search for Jet.

"We later found Jet in the library, blood on his head and signs that he had a struggle with Mecha Sonic. At that time as well, Vector vanished as we were trying to stop the bleeding," Tikal added.

"With the time after Storm's attack and trying to get out of the robot's grasp, I'd say it was around thirty minutes after Storm was attacked that I was attacked soon," Jet said.

"Afterwards, we took Jet to the infirmary to get patched up while the rest of us went and searched for Mecha Sonic. However, we all forget about Storm, who stayed in the infirmary while Jet saw the shadow of the robot," Espio continued. "We split to the second floor..."

"And then I saw the robot go to the third floor and got everyone's attention!"

"That's right. And mere moments later, we heard Storm scream, and we decided to split into two groups. Myself, Wave, Blaze, and Amy went after the robot, while Charmy, Big, Tikal, and Jet went to check on Storm."

"When my group went to the infirmary," I said. "We found Storm on the ground, dead. We then heard the body discovery announcement, and I decided to let the other group know what happened after Tikal started to feel ill."

"At that same time, my group uncovered Sonic's body in the repository of the physics lab. If that's how it sounds... then we found both bodies at exactly the same time because we heard the same announcement not long after we found the body."

"Yeah, and that's when I told you guys about Storm. With Wave freaked out, we all returned to head back to the infirmary. But not long after... Jet stopped us and told us something that shocked us all. It was that Storm disappeared. We returned back to the infirmary to find that he was right; Storm's body was gone."

"And then we remembered that we left Amy in the repository and went to check on her. And that's where we found that Sonic was missing too. Next thing you know, we were searching the zone for two dead bodies."

"Sometime after, Jet told me that he found the bodies in the supply closet of the art room," Wave said. "Sure enough, we rediscovered the bodies."

"That's the end of it... right?" Big asked.

"It does seem to be. My goodness though, there's so much to unpack," Blaze added.

"Trust me, I know," Vector replied. "This whole thing sounds beyond complicated. However, from all our testimonies, I think that all of the incidents aren't connected."

"Well... where do we go from here if they AREN'T connected?"

"Hmm... alright, think of like this. Rather than examinin' this case like it's all connected, we should break down each murder like it was its own separate incident. From there, I'm sure we'll be able to tell all the contradictions. First, since Sonic was the first one to die, let's get started with him."

The contradictions...

It made sense to believe that Sonic was the first one to die when you think back to the watch. Storm was still alive when the watch was broken after Sonic's death after 6. That meant there was a start right there... but I knew there had to be more!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, let's take a look at Sonic's death. I said that Sonic was the first one to die before Storm. But we can't deny the theory that it could have been after and we were tricked into thinkin' he was first," Vector began.

"What about the wrenches? Shouldn't their size growing with each attack signal anything? Like, with Sonic being last?" Blaze asked.

"Hmm... that does bring up a good point. The wrenches being swapped would be a good theory," Espio replied.

"It's true that Storm was killed with the Wrench of Power 3, and Sonic was killed by the Wrench of Power 4," Wave said.

"So it would make sense if you looked at it in that order!" Silver said.

I shook my head. It's true they were in order, but were they really used in that order?

"...and that's why I believe the numbering of the Wrench of Power is-"

"No, that's wrong!"

Blaze, who had been taken aback by my sudden outburst, looked surprised.

"I mean, hold on, there's no reason to assume that the wrenches were used in the same order that they're numbered in! If I had to guess... I think that's how the killer hide their actions."

"If what I'm getting from this is correct... you're saying the killer wanted us to think that they were used in the same order. We first found Storm, killed with the third wrench, and Sonic with the fourth. If that's the order we found the bodies... then it would make sense why'd we assume that," Wave replied, then smirking. "Of course, I knew it was more complex than this, and it's you lowlifes that didn't know."

"Well Charmy? I think proof would be needed to explain your theory as to why Sonic was killed first," Blaze said.

They didn't know? It looks like someone has to tell them the 'deep dark truth'. But I guess it made sense, even I didn't see it at first until Vector pointed it out.

"You wanna know my proof?" I replied. "It's Sonic's watch! Egg Robo? Physical evidence picture please?"

In the middle of his sleep, Egg Robo once again brought of the four-sided monitor, revealing a picture of Sonic's wrist with the watch on it.

"See right here? Look how the watch is broken, but the hand is stuck past six!"

"I'm sure yeh all remember when Sonic was gettin' on Charmy's case 'bout bein' late to our meetin' 'bout... THAT... Sonic's watch was clearly workin' and in good shape. This means that it was broken sometime after our meetin', cause if it ain't broken past six last night... then it only couldda been six this mornin'," Vector replied.

"That would make it his official time of death."

"And that would mean that he was killed well before Storm died. Remember, when Storm came to us all about Jet's abduction, it was around eight. This would mean Sonic would have been dead for almost two hours," Espio replied. Tikal held her arm.

"Such a cruel fate..."

"Wait a minute, I'm sure we remember earlier about how Storm and Jet were attacked," Blaze said. "As we know, they were attacked sometime around and after 7. This would mean that Sonic was killed before any of the other incidents took place, correct?"

"Yeah..." I said. "And because of that, we made the wrong assumption about the order of events because of the wrenches.

"Is that why the wrenches are numbered?..." Big asked.

Wave nodded. "Exactly. They were not only numbered but increased in size, so that when we saw how they were used, we'd easily make the wrong assumption that if it's ordered, it'd be used EXACTLY like that."

"I think it's absolutely important that I mention this now..." Vector said. "If this is true, and Sonic WAS killed at six, then that means ALL of our testimonies amount to nothin'. 'Cause when he was killed, there was no mornin' announcement, and we hadn't met up in the dinin' hall."

"Well, what about Storm's murder? Our alibi's don't work in Sonic's case, but Storm's?" Espio asked.

"You bring up a good point, Espio. With him, we're all at least safe..." Tikal said. "But still... when we heard Storm's scream, Vector and Silver were nowhere to be seen. And sure enough, when my group came to the infirmary, there he was; dead."

"So that's that! Stocky's dead, whatever!" Rosie said. "But what about my Darling Sonikku?! Answer the question!"

"No no, I think I might have an idea about the scream! Maybe it was a recording or something?" Silver said.

"That sounds like a good theory... Is there a tape?..." Big asked.

"I dunno."

"Don't go making stuff up, dorkfest!" Jet replied.

"Anyway..." Espio continued. "At least when Storm was attacked, the ones who were present at the time of the scream couldn't have killed him."

As I heard the last bits of the testimony, there was a thing there that Silver talked about. A recording sounds like... well, something Silver would come up with. But could it happen? The idea of that sounded...

Actually, I felt like I needed to come back to that theory.

"It doesn't stop there!" Jet said. "There was also the point where his body vanished! Remember, slow cat and I had taken pacifist girl to the bathroom since she wasn't feeling good, while bee was off getting Wave and the others! Then, when Sonic's body disappeared, we were all in the infirmary trying to figure out why that hedgehog went missing!"

"Well don't forget, I was passed out at the horrid sight of seeing my Darling all dead!" Rosie said, biting her thumb. "Oh... how a widow wails into the night!"

"...you aren't a widow though."

"Then what if Rosie could have done it?!" Silver exclaimed.

"Now that you mention it... you DID kinda come outta nowhere when we rediscovered the bodies! That seems really suspicious, doesn't it?"

"No," Wave replied. "I could believe her lifting up Sonic. In fact, her holding a dead Sonic in her arms is probably what she thinks her wedding would be like. But in the case of Storm? No, I don't think ANYONE could. Maybe Big or Vector, but Big was clearly with us. As for Vector..."

The crocodile looked at the swallow girl, not saying a word.

"But as for Rosie, she was passed out in the repository when the bodies disappeared."

"Besides, I didn't do either of them anyway! You like that plot twist, huh?! I bet you all thought this whole time, 'Man, I can't wait till Rosie gets her execution!'. Well TOO BAD! You gotta wait even LONGER for that! Not until I find out who killed-"

"My darling Sonikku, blah blah! We heard it the first time!" Jet mocked. "Argh, whatever! Look, the only thing that matters now is that it's impossible for any of us to have killed Storm or moved either his or that hedgehog's body! However, dorkfest and bossy croc over there still are the ones without an alibi."

"Argh... I'm getting confused..." I said. "Vector, there's a theory I have in my mind. But I first wanna ask... what do you think?"

The crocodile looked at me in the eye. "Fer now, let's not focus on WHO did it. Otherwise, we're just gonna go on a wild goose chase. But I wanna change the subject from who did it, to how they did it. First, we need to talk about how Storm's body got moved. Our belief by many people accusing Silver was that he did it using his ESP."

"That's right. And remember what Jet said before. He and Big were gone for maybe about a few minutes waiting on Tikal. It seems a little ironic that it would disappear at that exact moment that Jet, Tikal, and Big took their eyes off the body. I mean, I guess it would be a little hard to carry Storm using your mind but think about how much time that would take."

"Silver?" Blaze asked. "On average, how hard do you need to concentrate using your ESP lifting heavy objects?"

"Uh... well, generally people like Storm I can lift with no problem. It's only when we start getting to things weighing tons that I start to have a lot more difficulty with it."

"Then it's not unlikely to think that could have been what happened. That is unless, Silver isn't a good runner or isn't very quiet."

"Nah, I dun think yer gettin' this. It sounds believable to think that's how Silver did it. IF he did it."

"If?"

"How the body couldda moved in that short amount of time with no one noticin', he wasn't bein' lifted in any way. No, the only way how... is if the body moved by itself."

I could hear the stands shifting and Wave gasping as my eyes widened. "I knew it... My theory was right..."

Vector grinned at me. "Glad to see ya came to the same conclusion I did, Charmy."

When we heard Storm's scream, it sounded a bit uncharacteristic and loud. How ironic is it that the killer, who we thought was on the third floor, was suddenly on the first and Storm screamed THAT loud? If anything... it went back to what Silver said about a recording. While I don't think it was recorded, I think Storm screamed because he was still alive. After all, couldn't that explain how his goggles were both wiped and cracked?

"N-N-No! Not another gh-ghoooooost!" Silver wailed.

"Vector, I presume you have evidence, correct?!" Tikal said, panicked. "Pl-please do not tell me Storm was... was some kind of z-zombie?"

"I don't think this has anything to do with zombies or ghosts," Wave replied. "Storm was still alive when we all thought he died."

"N-No! You're wrong! I saw the de-death in his face! I felt how cold he was! I-I even punched his chest and he did nothing!" Jet squawked, starting to get emotional.

"H-He did punch it rather hard..." Big said.

"To think that Storm just got up and walked out under our noses..." Espio said.

"What about the body discovery announcement?" Tikal asked.

"I'm starting to think he played dead..." Wave replied. Jet held his head, looking more and more frightened.

"No... that's... that's not possible! Why?..."

The idea that Storm was still alive... it blew my mind. There were too many clues that hinted to such a thing happened. Could we really solve them all?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Are you implying that when we first found Storm, he was still alive?..." Espio asked.

"No, it can't be! I felt how cold he was AND how there was no life in his eyes!" Jet replied. "He had to have been dead! If not... then why did he do that?..."

"Ya sound certain that Storm was dead," Vector added.

"Remember what pacifist girl said! The body discovery announcement made it clear! Bee, pacifist girl, and slow cat were all with me when we found it! The body was found, and the announcement was made. Plus, they saw me mourn hard. If he was alive... shouldn't he have reacted to it?"

"Hmm... I can't say I agree. Perhaps... the announcement was for someone ELSE's discovery?"

When he said that, it hit me.

Oh Gaia, this was going to be a show.

If I looked at the facts, both Sonic and Storm were discovered at the same time. However, the announcement later went off a second time when we found them in the supply closet. Was that for Storm as Vector's implying or was that a mistake? I mean, Egg Robo surely isn't THAT perfect of a person.

...not like he ever was.

I bit my tongue. It was all or nothing!

"No, his dead body wasn't found!"

Everyone looked at me.

"Was the announcement about the body discovery REALLY for Storm?"

"Dude, you were THERE when it happened!" Jet retorted.

"I was yes. But don't you remember Espio's testimony about how at the same time we found Storm, they found Sonic?"

"That's right," Wave replied. "It wasn't long after we found him that we also heard the announcement."

"I think we're the ones who made a mistake, confusing who we found first. We thought the announcement was for either one of them, or even the both of them."

"If I'm right about this... if two bodies were found, two announcements would be made, correct? And I very much vaguely recall that happening."

"Tch, I bet Egg Robo got lazy and fell asleep at wherever the hell he is!" Jet replied.

"Huh?..." Egg Robo murmured, waking up. "Oh... sorry. I got bored hearing you all, but once I hear my name, I'm wide awake! So, uh... this is about the body discovery announcement, correct? Well, I'll just give you a short version since I can't explain TOO much! I only broadcast it when three or more people discover a body for the first time!"

Blaze gasped. "Ah, I see now!"

"See what, Ms. Blaze the Cat?..." Big asked.

"You didn't see anything! Egg Robo is just being a bum!" Silver replied.

"No, Egg Robo isn't a bum," Blaze shot back. "Don't you understand? Even if we find the same body, why would there be TWO announcements? If our first body discovery announcement was for Storm... then why did it play AGAIN when we found Sonic in the supply closet of the artist's studio?"

"After all, myself, Blaze, Amy, and Espio found Sonic. That's four people. Enough to trigger the announcement, no?" Wave asked.

"Exactly," I nodded my head. "And if you recall, just like Blaze said, the announcement played when we rediscovered the bodies. That wasn't a mistake. This means that when we rediscovered them, we were just finding them for the first time. Meaning this strengthens the theory that Storm was still alive when we found him for the first time!"

"So, when you, Jet, Tikal, and Big found Storm, he wasn't dead. But when we found him in the supply closet, he was most definitely dead," Espio replied.

"And there's still one more thing too!"

"OH OH, I KNOW KNOW!" Rosie said. "He was super good at playing dead that he could be an actor in some horror movie! I bet he had a real loud scream like 'AIIEEEEEE!', LIKE THAT'S TOTALLY PREPARED FOR A REAL LIKE THAT IF YOU ASK ME!"

"That's the dumbest logic I heard..." Jet shook his head. "But do you got proof about that anyway, bee? I mean, what kind of way would he even be alive? How does that explain the blood or no kind of movement when I hit him! I mean, have YOU ever been punched in the chest and not hurt?"

"I get what yer tryin' to say," Vector replied. "Alright then, let's take another look at the events when Storm's body was found. Then it'll show whether or not he was alive."

"Tch, this whole thing is pointless. He was dead and that's that..."

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Okay, so here's what we know: The first time we found Storm was in the infirmary," Tikal began. "Then, when Jet and Big took me to the bathroom, his body vanished!"

"And then the next time we saw it, it was in the supply closet of the artist's studio," Wave replied.

"Wait a minute, wasn't his body in a different position?" Jet asked. "Other than that, obviously caused by someone moving the body, what else is different?"

"So you're saying... he was alive, Mr. Jet the Hawk?..." Big added.

"Oh, of course not! This is just dumb! I saw my friend dead! Why can't you all accept that?..."

I shook my head. There was something Jet said that clearly showed me he was thinking with emotions rather than with his head. And even though he was the one that found it too? You're getting real lazy in this trial, buddy.

"Jet," I said sweetly. "Do you remember one thing about the body being different?"

"No, I don't! There was nothing wro-"

"No, that's wrong!"

"Okay then, enlighten me, Mr. I-love-to-scream-my-catchphrases, WHAT was different?!"

"His goggles."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. His goggles. And you know why. You even found the evidence itself!"

The evidence used to prove that Storm was different when he arrived in the supply closet? Well, it was easy.

"It was Storm's cleaning cloth. Don't you remember that you found it in the garbage and told Espio and I that it was Storm's and that the Babylon Rogues had their own?"

"Oh... right, I remember that," Jet rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, I knew those were Storm's but I guess I didn't make the connection..."

"Make the connection? Jet, when we first found Storm, his goggles were coated in blood and intact. But when we found him again... they were wiped clean and cracked. If Storm is the only one who had that cloth, then why was it used?"

"I dunno! Maybe our killer used it to wipe his goggles off! After all, they have a trend of using false evidence to lead us to false conclusions! Remember the dolly and the tarp? We were almost fooled into thinking they were apart of this case!"

"I guess that doesn't seem wrong but..." Wave held up her glasses. "Who exactly would benefit from wiping the glasses off?"

"Exactly. Storm's role in this case in the beginnin' was to play dead," Vector added. "Once everyone left, he wiped the goggles clean off. Now, Jet, Wave, I wanna ask ya: Does Storm normally use his goggles?"

"Only when we're racing," Jet replied.

"And even then, these goggles are custom made. They're very pricy, and Storm's goggles were something he was very attached to. The idea of putting blood on it likely squicked him out," Wave added.

"But then if he wasn't killed, why'd he put blood on it? Where'd he even get it?" Tikal asked.

"There were blood packets in the infirmary fridge," I replied.

"Oh yeah, I remember!" Jet said. "I was gonna give you and the edgy ninja a water but that's all I found there. Sorry about that, still."

"Oooh, there's blood packets in there?!" Rosie replied. "MAAAN, whoever the killer is, I think there'll be ENOUGH blood packets to fit in that fridge once we figure out who did it! Now I'm pumped up!"

"So, now that we said that Storm wiped the goggles off with his cleanin' cloth," began Vector. "Got up from his position... then I think we know who moved Sonic."

"Y-You aren't saying..." Jet said.

"It... was Storm?" I shook my head.

"That... that seems so unlikely!..." Big bemoaned, hands on his cheeks.

"Not unlikely," Wave replied. "While we were all in the infirmary trying to figure out where Storm was, he was up on the third floor, moving Sonic's body. In fact... I think this now explains a few things. First; Storm is a very strong person as you know. Lifting someone like Sonic is nowhere near impossible to him. What I think he did was cover Sonic's wound with the towel, lifted him up, and carried him to the supply closet. Now, I imagine he came back to alter the scene, which is why he moved the dolly across the blood pool to make it seem like it was used, as well as grabbed a tarp. But now I'm starting to think of another idea... the footprint we saw. Could it be that it wasn't Mecha Sonic's, but instead, Storm's?"

This got more people talking amongst each other.

"Doesn't this also explain how the door was locked?" Espio asked. "Tikal and I tried to open the door to the supply closet when we found out Sonic was missing. If anything... the idea that Storm was hiding in the supply closet doesn't sound farfetched. Sonic's body was already likely there."

"The room could only be locked from the inside, which means that someone was already in. And that someone was no doubt Storm."

"He made us think he was dead, and when he saw his chance, he grabbed Sonic and carried him to the supply closet," Vector said.

"Now that I'm thinking about it... Jet, you were the one to find the two, right?"

Jet nodded. "Yeah, why?""

"When did you discover them?"

"Uh, when I ran out, I went looking through the classrooms first."

"Did you see Espio and pacifist girl there when you arrived in the artist's studio?"

"Nah, I spent a few minutes in the classrooms just looking around."

"Once Tikal and I found there wasn't anything, we left the studio, and we didn't see Jet anywhere," Espio replied.

Wave adjusted her glasses. "And yet... the door was open when Jet arrived there and not Tikal or Espio... how strange..."

"Don't ask me! If anything, that's just even weirder! It's like they wanted me to find it or something..."

"But do ya see it now?" Vector asked. "Storm wasn't a victim. No, he was an accomplice."

"No... why? Why would he do that?..." Tikal rubbed her arm. "I don't wish to believe this!"

"And that means he took part in the murders too..." Big added, also shocked.

"I know it's hard to believe, but there's still one more piece of evidence," Vector said.

"MORE?!" Silver yelped as the crocodile smirked.

"Yup. There's still one big fact pointin' to his obvious involvement in this case. Charmy, Espio, yeh two know exactly what I'm referrin' to, right? The item he took offa Sonic?"

"Charmy, the note!" Espio said. I dug through my pockets and found the note and the scrap of paper.

"It's this right here!" I said, holding out the note. "We found this in Storm's pants."

"In his WHAT?!" Tikal yelped.

"Excuse me, you were digging in a boy's PAAAAAANTS?!" Rosie said in a sing-song voice. "Ooh, I think I know which team Chimcharm plays for! Eh, not to worry, Chimcharm! You know how we have those little parades every year that I dunno their name! But all I know is that stinky pinky is SUPER upset cause no boy there is into her!"

"Argh..." Espio groaned. "Yes, it was in his pants. His pockets to be exact."

"You looked in his- ew, gross!" Jet stuck his tongue out. "What, is digging through guy's pants what you like to do?! Explains WAY too much about you!"

"I did it, and unlike yeh, I do it because it's important, not cause I need to show how mah balls are bigger then yers," Vector replied. I could hear Silver trying not to lose it as Jet fumed.

"Well, forget about the pants," I said. "It's more important that we read what's on the note." Clearing my throat, I began,

 _"I found a hole in the Physics Lab repository. Egg Robo can't find out, so make sure to not go to anyone else. Meet me there at 6 am."_

"Hey, hey hey hey!" Silver said. "That's the note! The note I said I had! Although that's weird though... it told me to meet them at the rec room at 1. Not the physics lab repository at 6..."

"Huh... so this has to be a note different from the one you got. Which means that alongside Silver, there's only one other person the killer could have gotten in contact with. And that's Sonic!"

"Hedgehog? Why'd the killer want to meet with them?" Jet asked.

"Most likely, Sonic believed that-"

"UH NO! OBJECTION! OBJEEECTION! JUDGES, CAN I PLEASE GET AN OBJECTION?!" Rosie yelled out. Covering my ears, I looked at our residential serial killer.

"What is it, Rosie?"

"So uhhhh, I'm still kinda not sure what's going on but if I had to guess... Storm had that note right? Then that means the note wasn't for my Darling Sonikku, it was for Stocky!"

"Stocky?" Tikal asked. "Do you mean Storm?"

"UGH, yes! Are you too dumb to realize what nicknames mean?! Or does the word nickname confuse you THAT much?!"

Man, Rosie seriously never gets any less scary the more I'm around her. But as Vector proved to me earlier... what's she's claiming definitely isn't true!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Soooooo... Stocky had the note right? Then that means that the note was meant for him!" Rosie began.

"Doncha remember what the note said? Tell me; what time did it ask to meet?" Vector asked.

"6 AM, different from the note Silver got," Espio added.

"The time doesn't matter!" Rosie argued back. "The note has NOTHING to do with my Darling Sonikku!"

The time doesn't matter and it had nothing to do with Sonic? Well, at least you confessed to not being sure as to what's going on.

"No, what's wrong!"

"What in the hey are you talking about, Chimcharm?!"

"Were you not paying attention this whole time? The note said to meet at six. As we explained, Sonic was killed at six, signified by how his watch was broken. But it's not JUST the watch. The note said to meet in the physics lab repository, where he was killed, and where you, alongside Espio, Wave, and Blaze found him. Which means he was murdered in the time and place mentioned in the note, and proves that this was meant for him."

"Hm... well... when you put it like that... NO FURTHER OBJECTIONS!" Rosie proceeded to laugh manically.

I shook my head, so confused. If you have no further objections, then why did you even waste time and bother all of us about this?...

"...anyway," Silver said, moving on from the topic. "So, whoever wrote the note used this to trick Sonic, like they did with me! Argh! Damn that culprit! Telling people they found a way out and tricking them..."

"Maybe you shouldn't have believed it like a dunce!" Jet replied.

"But if they have that note to Sonic... why does Storm have it?" Tikal asked.

"Stuffed deep into his pants too!" Rosie continued to laugh.

"Could it be that there was a reason for doing so?" Blaze asked. "I mean, all the note had was a request. Why would he need it?"

"If you had to ask me..." I said. "I think that Storm took it off of Sonic's body after he died.

"He stole it?..." Big asked, head turned.

"Where's your proof? Go ahead, show us," Wave said to me. "Share your information with the class."

"My proof? Okay, here's the second part of the note," I replied, going into my pockets and pulling out the small strip of paper.

"...that's it?"

"Dun be surprised, Wave," Vector replied. "Charmy... I'm proud that yeh were able to find the key to that mystery. It was so obvious in front of yeh, I was worried yeh weren't gonna catch on."

I don't care if he kinda dunked on me a little, I felt proud having validation from Vector.

"Anyway, lemme explain about this. When myself, Vector, and Espio searched Sonic's body, we found that he was gripping onto a small strip of paper," I held up the strip. "This one right here to be exact. Now, look at this."

I aligned the scrap with the corner of the note that was torn, and sure enough, it fit just right.

"There you go right there. Perfect match."

"So does this mean that Sonic's scrap and Storm's note are from the same piece of paper? Tikal asked.

"Storm had the note meant fer Sonic, while all Sonic had was a small strip of paper that he was able to still grapple onto," Vector said.

"To explain this, I think what happened..." Espio added. "...is that Sonic died clutching the note and Storm tried to grip it out from Sonic's hand. However, he only got part of it. Is that correct?"

Vector nodded.

"And this would mean that Storm knew the note was important..." Wave said in a calmer voice. I wonder what was going on with her? She's been acting a bit... weird throughout this case.

"Exactly," Vector continued. "Which only should seal the deal that he was the accomplice in Sonic's murder."

"Which is true, but we still don't know who killed him yet," Blaze replied.

"Why does that matter? He planned the whole thing! IN FACT, I BET HE'S STILL ALIVE!"

We all looked at Silver. Blaze facepalmed.

"Silver, sit down please. For a couple of minutes."

"Sorry but Storm is dead," I said, confused. "He was definitely is. The second body discovery announcement should prove that he died."

"Our biggest question now that we know who killed Sonic... is... who killed Mr. Storm the Albatross..?" asked Big. "I doubt it could have been some kind of suicide..."

"Exactly," Espio replied. "And I now believe whoever killed Storm is the true mastermind of this case. A mastermind who's a mastery of wit and deception that's for sure..."

"He was killed in the supply closet, so not long after he dumped Sonic's body," Vector noted.

"Then... this means that he was killed after Sonic's body vanished, but before Jet discovered him in the supply closet."

"Does that mean that three people were in the supply closet at that time? And if so... who?" Wave asked. "Oh, don't look surprised. During our search, we all split up. Jet went ahead first, then all of us, afterwards. When Espio and pacifist girl tried to open the door, it was closed, but when Jet went to explore the closet after searching the classrooms, it was open. Meaning that the killer sneaked by everyone when they didn't know, and hid somewhere. Espio, pacifist girl... was the first place you checked the artist's studio?"

"It wasn't actually. We first explored classrooms by the rec room, then the artist's studio," Tikal replied.

"And Jet, no one came into the rooms you were in, correct?"

"If they did, I wouldda tackled them!" the hawk replied.

"Fair point... but who's to say none of us could be lying right now?"

"But we just gave our testimonies!"

"Fair point, but everyone is a suspect at this point, Jet."

"Hold on!" Silver said. "Something's bugging me! When they were killed bothers me, but what about the weapon used to killed Storm!"

"The weapon?"

"Yeah! Did you read the EggPAD? It said they were killed similarly. But weren't the wrenches lying in different places? Wrench 3 was in the infirmary, and wrench 4 was in the repository of the physics lab! So, if Storm was killed there... wouldn't that mean the killer had to put the wrench back to make it seem like it was still there?"

"Wow."

"Wow what?..."

"Wow as in, I'm surprised that there's still something resembling a brain in that head of yours."

"Heeeck yeah! And thanks for the compliment, Wave!"

"That wasn't a... oh, forget it."

"He brings up a fair point though," Espio added. "They were killed with a similar weapon, and yet the two wrenches were laying in other rooms."

"So our new question is this; How'd the killer get their hands on one of the wrenches without any one of us finding out, and putting it EXACTLY the way we found it?" Jet asked. "I ain't gotta clue!"

"So which wrench was used to attack Storm and Jet?" Tikal added. "1 or 2?"

"They were in other rooms as well," I replied. "But we noted that Wrenches 1 and 2 weren't big enough to kill someone."

"Could it be that they used a different weapon? Maybe a wrench, but not THE wrenches we're thinking of?" Wave asked.

"What do you mean?..." Big asked.

"Oh, I think it'll be made clear soon. Don't worry about that."

The weapon used to killed Storm... Somehow, I knew it was gonna be a lot more complex than we knew. And yet... I felt like I had the answer in my mind!"

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"What was used to kill Storm?" Espio asked. "The Wrench of Power #3? Or #4?"

"Well, we gotta figure something out! And that's; how did the killer move freely with the weapon? Did ANYONE see it?" Jet added.

"Wowee wowee WOWEE, FROM THE SOUNDS OF THINGS, SOUNDS LIKE A WRENCH OF POWER 5 IS GONNA APPEAR! Make sure you vote on this author's poll on his profile for more information!" Rosie laughed.

"One thing's for sure! The murder weapon had to have been one of the wrenches!" Silver said. As he said this, I looked at my clues and noted the spotless wrench in the supply closet. Now that I think about it... I don't even think THAT came up. But how ironic was it that a wrench isn't dusty and clean appears after a murder where a wrenchlike object was used?

"No, that's wrong!" I said. "The murder weapon wasn't a Wrench of Power! It's like Wave said. It isn't what we're thinking of! It had to have been one of the wrenches from the artists studio's supply closet!"

"Why... that though?" Blaze asked.

"That's because in the supply closet, all of the wrenches are dirty with quite a lot of dust on them. However, there was one wrench hanging on there that was perfectly spotless. I bet that was the reason it was so clean. It was used to commit murder! Not to mention... from how the wrenches look, I bet these wrenches were used as bases for the Wrenches of Power!"

"If that's true... then that explains how the EggPAD says that Storm and Sonic's injuries are similar. They were killed not with the same exact wrench, but with a wrench nonetheless," Espio replied.

"Our timeline of events so far seems to be that Storm moved Sonic's body, then was killed in the supply closet with one of the close by wrenches," Wave added.

"And whoever did that is the true killer... the one who killed Storm, but also worked with him..." Tikal said. "I couldn't even begin to imagine the lack of humanity this person has... Betraying someone they were working with who committed murder, only to backstab their accomplice by killing them!"

"Wait a minute," Jet interrupted. "I think we all forgot one important thing. The whole graduating rule."

"What about it?"

"Well, the whole thing about it. Egg Robo said that you can have an accomplice, but they don't benefit anything from it. If that's the case... then what's the point of even having one?"

He did have a point but... that couldn't be it, right?


	25. Chapter 3 (Class Trial (Part 2))

**MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, let's remember the whole rule," Jet began. "Even if one more than one person did help, the only who actually DOES it becomes the blackened and graduate. So, this would mean that it's impossible that two people worked together!"

"That was how the rule was explained to us..." Blaze replied.

"But that only applies if there's one murder..." Espio continued.

"In this case, there's two murders!" Vector finished.

Impossible that two people worked together? Maybe it sounded that way but... no. There was one thing that showed that two people worked together.

"I disagree," I said. "Vector is right. There were two murders, which means two people were involved. As we explained, Storm killed Sonic, and someone killed him."

"Exactly," the crocodile replied. "If there was one murder, then yeah, havin' an accomplice is bogus. I mean, they help yeh, sure, but in the trial, the one who did it gets blackened and has the chance to survive, not the accomplice. There's no payoff fer the accomplice, meanin' there's no benefit. But if there WAS a reward, then ya'd work together."

"And that means that two people committed two different murders. Storm killed Sonic, and the killer killed Storm, just like bee was saying," Wave replied.

"Exactly. And with how each part of this case went, I'm startin' to think it was made to seem like one person was involved."

"Then this goes to a question I was asking earlier. Why Storm and Sonic? Do they even have any kind of connection?" Espio asked.

"I think I might know," Wave said. "If you know anything about Storm, he's a yes man. The killer knew Storm, had a mutual trust in him, and used that to their advantage."

"How cruel!" Tikal bemoaned. "You betray one of your friends to... to do that?!"

As she said this, I began to think back to when I was looking up about everyone here that night before I came to Green Hills. Reading Storm's profile, alongside his family's history as well as the origin of his Ultimate title, I remembered one line in particular.

 _"He's simple minded and not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but if you have his respect, he is VERY loyal."_

So now this begged the question... who?

As I thought back to the case, everything that went on, the ones murdered, so much flew through my head. Storm was the accomplice... very loyal if you have his respect... one of the murdered being Sonic... the motive of ten million rings...

As all of my thoughts came together...

I stopped.

Because in front of me, the words "Very loyal if you have his respect" were burned into my eyes.

Oh.

Oh no...

How did I not see this?

The only person Storm would listen to... without rhyme or reason... Doing it... to make them proud.

I think I found our killer. Our smart, cunning... and yet vicious killer.

"Here's my answer!" I said, interrupting everyone's talking. I could see all heads turned to my direction as I closed my eyes. "The answer lies... within Storm. More accurately, who he is. Wave, you said that Storm is a yes man. Someone who'll do something when ordered. This goes into what I do know about him, which is that, if you have his respect, he's a very loyal person. Now, at our whole time here, who has Storm listened to without questioning this whole time? Who is the person that Storm would listen to in order to make them proud, even if it's murder?"

Silence, and then...

"Charmy... you..." Tikal said softly. "You don't..."

"I do. Jet... tell me: would YOU happen to know anyone like that?!"

Jet squawked as he took a step back. "Wh-what are you talking about?! No... don't... don't FUCKING tell me you're gonna accuse me of murder, shrimp! I may have HATED the guts of that little hedgehog fucker, but I WOULDN'T kill Storm for something like that! I mean, I said so myself, I don't need that motive!" he scoffed. "Wave! Back me up! This little shrimp doesn't know his place!"

Wave however, was silent. Her head was turned away from Jet and her arms were crossed.

"Wave, what are you doing?! I order you to back me up!"

"Jet..." she said in a sour voice. "I'll be honest. At first, I didn't want to believe it. I could never, in a MILLION years imagine you doing anything so heinous in my life. Even when I was talking with bee and his ninja friend, my biggest fear was finding out if you being the killer was the truth. But imagine my surprise when I dug deeper and found my worst fears had come true. Alongside your behavior, I was forced to accept the truth."

"You... you ABSOLUTE-"

"I'm not done. I haven't explained what that behavior is. You and Storm shared something that none of us did. Bee, do you know it?"

It didn't take my long to find my answer. "Mecha Sonic..." I said. "Jet and Storm were the only two who found Mecha Sonic. None of us also saw it until we saw Silver in the pool."

"Shush, that's enough of you. The adults are talking now."

Jeez, didn't you want me to share what it was?

"Anyway... Jet, you and Storm were the only ones who encountered Mecha Sonic. If we accept that Storm was one of the culprits... then we have all the right to suspect you."

"Suspect me? ME?!" Jet growled.

"Wave... are you saying... everything... was a lie?" Tikal covered her mouth in horror. "Even Storm's panic about Jet being abducted?"

"Even that. He took advantage of your good-hearted nature and look where it got us. Now, after we took Storm to the infirmary, we then went out to search for Mecha Sonic. Just before we even left, don't you remember how Jet told us that he saw it? And yet, no one else saw it? We headed to the second floor because of what he claimed to see. Then, he drew us to the physics lab, he made that scream and told us that he saw it again. Meanwhile... Storm's plan just began."

"A plan to divide us into two groups, no?" Blaze asked. "One group would discover Storm and one would find Sonic?"

"Exactly. And isn't it oh so ironic that it was YOU, Jet, that told us we should split up?"

I could see Jet fuming from where I was, looking like he was about to explode in anger at any minute.

"So that settles it. If they worked together, then ALL of those events are connected. And besides, there's one more thing too. In spite of being the Ultimate Bodyguard, Storm was always loyal to you, Jet. Anytime you'd order him to do something, he'd do it even if he was busy to make you happy. After all, what was his nickname for you? Oh, that's right. It was 'Boss'."

Jet gritted his teeth as he began to shake, looking like he was about to attack Wave next to him.

"Oh, did you think I'm done?" she said.

"What NOW?!" he exploded.

"That cry of yours. I guarantee you weren't surprised. You made it as loud as possible so Storm could hear and so he knew, 'Boss and the others were on the third floor, it's time to move'."

"Hold on a minute!" I said. "I just realized something. When we first found Storm in the infirmary, who we now know was alive and playing dead, that reaction you had... You put on that performance so we didn't have any doubt that Storm died."

"Are you actually gonna FUCKING use that as your proof you little insect?! HE WAS DEAD! DID YOU NOT SEE THE **FUCKING** BLOOD!" Jet screamed at me.

"I... I can't believe it..." Tikal said, interrupting Jet before he could say something else. "All of this was..."

"Tikal, Big," I said. "You were with Jet when Storm's body disappeared, right?"

"Yes... they had both taken me to... wait a minute... Charmy... oh no... Oh no no no! Charmy! Please don't tell me that means?!"

"Was Mr. Storm the Albatross... still alive?!.." Big bemoaned.

"Exactly," I said. "Jet didn't care about you. He wanted a way to get you all out so Storm could sneak out of the infirmary."

"With each thing we need to learn, things just get even uglier," Wave said, shaking her head. "Jet... why... why did you do this? How could you do this? Why would you kill your teammate... no, your friend. I thought you had finally become the leader I had so desperately wanted you to become. Now look at you."

"A.. A... Ar..." Jet said, losing his voice. And then... "AAAAAAAAAARGHH! You absolute fucking BITCH! I didn't do SHIT! Tell me, what?! WHAT COULD I POSSIBLY GAIN FROM KILLING STORM?! NOTHING, **THAT'S** WHAT! IF YOU WANNA FUCKING LIE, BE MY GUEST BUT TO ACTUALLY SAY I DID IT... YOU'RE FUCKING ASKING FOR IT, YOU BITCH!"

"If you're done yelling at me and burning any remaining bridges between us, tell me. Why did you make one crucial mistake?"

"Mistake? Jet the Hawk doesn't MAKE mistakes! You knew ever since you joined this team that everything has to be per-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion. What I want you to do is to confirm what you said to us. Your little 'mistake'."

"I... I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Typical. What did you say after Storm vanished and you fell to the floor in supposed, 'fear'? What was it again? Something along the lines of, _"T_ _hat's it. I dunno what to do anymore. My teammate... no, my friend was killed, and our murderer just wants to mock us. What can we even do anymore?... Nothing, that's what. Face it... we're all gonna die here. We're gonna die just like they did."_

"I remember that clearly, but I didn't think there was anything strange about that," Espio asked.

"Well, there was. Remember, you, Amy, Blaze, and myself were the first to find Sonic's body in the repository of the physics lab. Then Charmy showed up and told us that Storm had also been killed and we joined him, and then later, Jet, back to the infirmary. Now, keep in mind, we hadn't said ANYTHING about Sonic being dead. Then why did he say THEY?"

"You know!" Jet argued back. "Storm told me he started using... what was it? Oh yeah! He wanted to be referred to as they like some of those people do online!"

"Oh, now that's just a pathetic excuse," Wave had a disgusted look on her face. "You're REALLY going to pull that on me when I KNOW in the past you've mocked people for using they pronouns? Nice try, but try harder. Now, IF you really aren't the killer, you shouldn't have any problem repeating what you said."

"Tch, fine! I got no problem with that! I'll prove to you that you got the wrong person!"

Wave said that Jet's comment doesn't make sense, but what did she really mean by that?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Alright, here's what I said again for you idiots! Whoever is doing this killing is enjoying this. They're enjoying our despair, our fears, our pain when our friends die. We're all going to die here in one way or another, just like they did! And that's all I said!" Jet began.

"That's all we need. What was strange about Jet's comment?" Wave asked.

He really is digging a deeper and deeper hole, isn't he? This was far to easy.

"It's the 'they' comment like we said!" I said, pointing at Jet. "No one told Jet that Sonic was dead, so he slipped! Tell me Jet, how did you know? How did you know not only that they were killed but they were BOTH guys?!"

"Don't forget that there's no way he could have seen the bodies before any one of us, or when he was with us," Wave added. Jet was silent, staring daggers at me.

"You... you don't know what you're fucking talking about," he growled. "You think I'm lying about Mecha Sonic? You think that debunks my picture? In fact, let's talk ABOUT my picture! How are you gonna try and claim the picture Storm took of me being taken away, that I VIVIDLY REMEMBER, is fake?!"

"I-It's a set up!" Silver replied. "Maybe you used a timer and took a-"

"WRONG dorkfest! This camera doesn't have a timer! And besides, you're the ONLY one who can fit in the suit! Which means Silver WAS conscious while dragging me because how else would that explain it, huh?!"

"Simple," Vector said. "IS that really a picture of yeh bein' dragged away?"

"Oh, here comes you! What now?!"

"I think there's more reasons as to how yeh were dragged off without sayin', 'Oh, it really was Silver in the suit'."

"No there isn't!"

That's what you want us to think. Besides, if that's what you want us to think... then the only other possibility...

"..is that YOU were dragging the suspect, NOT the other way around!" I said.

"What?!" Jet grit his teeth.

"I think that's entirely possible," Vector replied. "Remember; the person in the Mecha Sonic suit can't bend your knees, and yet look at how the image looks. What I'm bettin', is that the image was faked just like the dolly and the tarp to make us THINK this was part of what happened. If ya saw someone like that, then yeh'd be suspicious."

"So that's what happened!" Silver added, angry. "You drugged me, put me in that suit and faked that photo so everyone can blame me you... you... you b-bastard!"

"Tch, funny way to refer to yourself! Besides, that's impossible!" Jet argued back. "I was dragging Silver away?! That's fucking stupid!"

"Is it though?"

"Yes, and if you don't want me to turn all your fucking teeth into a tooth necklace, croc, then LISTEN to me!"

Jet thinks he can prove that he wasn't dragging Silver away... but is that possible?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"You made me pass out and put me into that suit! Then you used me like a ragdoll and put my arms around you to make it look like I was kidnapping you! You made me look like the bad guy!" Silver began.

"Oh, now that's stupid. Look at the picture! The suspect is standing perfectly upright, so if they were unconscious... they can't stand up straight!" Jet replied.

"So, it was you Silver! Lemme at him Egg Robo! I'm gonna smash his little face in!" Rosie yelled. Silver grabbed his head and looked at the ceiling, eyes closed.

"IT WASN'T MEEEEEE!"

Slipping more and more... he was smart when coming up with this plan, but defending himself? You made this too easy, Jet.

"No, that's wrong!" I replied. "Even if you were unconscious, you can still stand up! Wanna know what? Because it's like Vector said! You can't bend your knees!"

"Ah, I see!" Tikal said. "So, that means the person who designed the suit made a mistake in not allowing the knees to bend!"

"I dun think this was a mistake," Vector replied. "In fact, I think that it was planned from the beginning to be like that."

"Argh..." Jet was looking more unhinged as his eye began to twitch.

"Aw, look. How cute," Blaze giggled. "Seeing you finally squirm brings me such joy."

"That means that Storm and Jet used the suit they made, likely drugged Silver and stuffed him into the suit. Then they faked the picture and made us believe that whoever was in that suit was to blame!"

"Aaa... ngh... NGHH!" Now Jet began to shake as he slammed one fist on the stand. "Damn you... damn you damn you damn you..."

"I think he's gonna explode!..." Big cried.

Wave shook her head. "Jet, I never wanted to believe this, but the fact that you'd stoop so low... well, this is the end for you. What do you have to say now?"

Jet slowly turned his head to face Wave, looking at her with murder in his eye. "What do I have to say? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE END FOR ME?! WHAT DID I **FUCKING** SAY?! I NEVER **FUCKING** LOSE!"

"Lose?" Vector asked.

"IF YOU THINK YOU CAME TO A CONCLUSION TO THIS FUCKING THING, THEN YOU'RE DEAD FUCKING WRONG! If I'm the killer, then why Storm?! Why would I kill the only other person I could stand in this fucking zone besides Wave?!"

"Don't you even lump me with yourself, you little trigger-happy freak," Wave said coldly.

"I wasn't fucking TALKING to you! No, I was talking to the shitfaced croc and bee right there! I know who did it... it wasn't me... Storm did kill, but SILVER was the one who killed Storm, NOT me!"

"And yeh know this... how?" Vector asked.

"Remember when I went searching first before anyone else? That's because while the others were occupied, I left the classrooms and headed to the artist's studio. I found that the door was open like I said, but when I opened the door... I saw dorkfest lifting up the pieces of the robot and vanishing off!"

"And you're only now mentioning this?" Espio questioned.

"Because NONE of you deserve to fucking know if this is how you wanna treat me!"

"I dun think that's what happened," Vector added. "Silver, I guarantee yeh, was already stuffed in the pool locker since his purpose was now over."

"You're REALLY on thin fucking ice, aren't you croc?! I saw it all, and believe me or NOT, it's what happened. Wave... THIS time you can't refuse to not believe me, right?!"

Wave shook her head. "No. I'm not going to back up a murderer like yourself. You just go ahead and continue to kill any connection I have with you, one memory after another."

Jet slammed his fist on the stand, saying while slamming his fist after every time he said, "I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'M NOT!"

He still refused to accept it. He won't give up until the very end. Just like his attitude with racing, he'll make sure he wins no matter what. That means...

It's me who has to reach first place in this race!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Jet, Storm is your right-hand man, right? Do yeh deny that it would mean that he would do whatever you want?" Vector asked.

"And there was that bet and the fights you had with Sonic afterwards! Was that your motive?" Tikal added.

"You had Storm kill Sonic because you found him to be a 'wretch', then most likely, out of guilt of having to experience Storm being executed, you killed him too," Espio theorized.

"I don't think he was guilted. If anything, it was all that money he was promised. He wouldn't win his bet after all," Blaze put her hand over her mouth, smiling.

"All of these fucking fake accusations... To think that I would kill Storm, the only fucking person I liked here alongside Wave!" Jet growled.

"Don't lump me with you. At least I have the decency to not murder," Wave said coldly.

"I NEVER MURDERED ANYONE! You have NO proof I **FUCKING** did that shit! THAT'S THE ONLY TRUTH THERE IS!"

"Oh, calm yourself, child. You'll give yourself a headache."

"NO! EACH OF YOU CAN BITE MY DUST, EACH OF YOU CAN GO VOTE FOR SILVER AND LET HIM SUFFER HIS EXECUTION!"

The more frantic Jet sounded, the more that indicted him. There has been so much proof that there was one thing he forgot that indicted him. It rhymed with bench... and it was completely spotless.

"No, that's wrong! There IS proof!" I said.

"WHAT?!" Jet screamed. "You... you fucking bee piece of shit... Now I wish it would have been YOU THAT GOT OFFED FOR BEING SUCH A-"

"Let him talk," Wave interrupted.

"You said you saw when Silver vanished with all the parts of Mecha Sonic. First, before I show my proof... Silver?" I asked. "Can you teleport?"

"Huh?" the white hedgehog looked confused. "Oh, yeah I can. It's just I can't do it here. See, watch."

We watched as Silver closed his eyes, began to wince, and then vanished only to reappear two seconds later.

"See? Egg Robo has something preventing me from leaving!"

"It's not just that too," I continued. "It's the spotless wrench as well. Earlier, the wrench had vanished and then reappeared when we rediscovered the bodies. Could it be that maybe... you were in the room which explains why you went ahead before all of us to 'search' for the bodies, killed Storm, and then washed the wrench off and put it back where it was?"

I could hear Tikal gasp. Jet looked like he was seconds from his entire body exploding as he pulled up the sleeves of his racers uniform and began to tear the feathers off of his arms, looking deranged.

"YOU... you have NO FUCKING IDEA... what you're TALKING ABOUT..." he snarled. "YOU... DON'T... KNOW... SHIT..."

"I do know, Jet. And it's time that you've stopped denying everything. You said you were going to win..." I pointed at Jet. "But I'll be the one who stops your perfect win record! Now everyone! Here's what happened!"

 **CLOSING ARGUMENT**

"The case first began with the start of Fleetway and the killer's arguments. They had bet the millions of rings Egg Robo promised us on who would touch... err, IT, as well as their fight about IT's disappearance. In an act of revenge, the killer wanted to get back at him, and used Storm as his wingman due to being loyal to him," I began. "To begin their plan, they convinced someone to go to the rec room at 1 am, someone they knew was gullible enough to go there. So, they chose Silver to make him the prime suspect. Storm then drugged him, stuffed him into the suit that he and the killer built, and then the killer, letting Storm use his camera, made it seem like he was being abducted by manipulating the context of the photo. Then he was put into the pool room locker."

I nodded my head. "Their next course of action began at 6 am. They called Fleetway into the repository of the physics lab, where Storm took the Wrench of Power #4, and murdered Fleetway. Next, they falsified two incidents. The first was Storm being attacked, and the second being that the killer being kidnapped, and that Mecha Sonic was the suspect. Storm wanted all of us who were in the dining hall that morning to see the pictures of the killer's abduction and pretended that the first Wrench of Power was 'gone'. The second false incident was the attack in the library and the Wrench of Power #2. It was altered to make it seem like the suspect was increasing the size of the wrenches and was attacking people, and all of us fell into their trap."

"And so, after we patched the killer up, we left Storm in the infirmary. The killer made it seem like it was on accident because he wanted to find the killer as fast as possible. When in reality... Storm was left behind as to fake a murder scene. So, he took a blood packet from the fridge, poured it on himself, and planted the Wrench of Power #3, and made it seem like he was murdered. He let out a scream, and the killer, myself, Big, and Tikal found him after we split up into two groups upon hearing the scream. Meanwhile, at the same time, Espio, Blaze, Wave, and Amy found Sonic at the same time. Not knowing this, my group thought the body discovery announcement was for Storm. Once all four of us left the infirmary to let Tikal, who was feeling sick, go to the bathroom and for me to find the others, Storm took advantage of the situation. He got up and likely hide somewhere to prevent anyone from finding him. When we all found out he was missing and everyone returned to the infirmary, he made his second chance back to the repository."

"There, he faked the dolly being used by sliding it on the pool of blood, then he picked up Sonic and put a towel over his wound, grabbing the dolly and tarp with him as well, and walked him to the supply closet of the artist's studio. He however, failed to realize he left a footprint in the blood puddle. As he lay Sonic's body on the floor over the tarp, the killer had finally separated from everyone and met him back in the supply closet. Storm thought he did a good job... but little did he know... the killer grabbed the wrench and they killed him in the room, whether to be out of guilt, or because he wanted the money... With that, this should show us who our killer is!"

As the room spun, I could feel Jet's angry gaze piercing my eyes. "It's YOU, Jet! Sorry, you lose!"

Jet began to breathe heavily, almost like he had gotten done with a marathon. "I... I lost... For the first time... No... I r-refuse... Jet the Hawk... No, ANYONE apart of the Babylon Rogues... they never lose..."

Wave looked at the hawk. "Jet, it's time to stop this nonsense. We know everything we already know. You ordered Storm to kill Sonic, and in return, you killed him. The bee is right. You're not a winner."

Jet collapsed onto his knees, still saying, "I can't lose, I can't lose, I can't lose, I can't lose..."

And then, he began to ugly sob.

"Well, looks like Jet has resorted to crying to gain sympathy! Will he gain it? Or will he not touch the hearts of everyone? It's time to vote and see! You know how this deal goes!" Egg Robo said, finally waking up and yawning. "Will you make the right choice or wrong choice? What's it gonna be?! Oooh, I can't wait to see!"

For the third time, our stands turned into seventeen levers with our pictures on it. I grabbed the lever with Jet's face on it and pulled it. Like the last two times, once everyone was done, the 'Egg Robo VOTE' slot machine displayed the same thing as with last time, only this time, when the reels of the machine began to slow down, it stopped on a triple of Jet's picture. 'GUILTY' was displayed in L.E.D. lights as rings shot from the machine. The slot machine rose up... and we knew that it was over...

But for the third time, we knew it was only a matter of time before our next execution happened...

 **CLASS TRIAL #3**

 **END**

* * *

As we got off of our stands, Egg Robo got in the middle of us. "Jeez, with skills so good, you could almost speedrun the game of Clue in one second! Yuppers, once again you have discovered this week's blackened! Our blackened, the one responsible for ordering the death of Sonic the Hedgehog, and the blackened for Storm the Albatross is... Jet the Hawk!

Jet, who was still in the middle of ugly crying, looked like a complete wreck as he didn't argue back. However, just then Rosie screamed a war cry.

"SO, IT WAS YOU WHO KILLED MY DARLING SONIKKU!" she screamed, waving her hammer. "LEMME AT HIM, EGG ROBO! LEMME AT HIM! LET ME SMASH HIS BRAINS IN RIGHT HERE AND NOW!"

"Whoa now, Ms. Rosie!" Egg Robo said, pulling on Rosie's leg to prevent her from attacking. "I understand you're very upset at Mr. Hawk, but if you kill him, then you'll be a blackened too!"

She looked at him and screamed, dropping her hammer.

"Jet... did you... did you really?" I asked him. "And if so..."

"Why?"

I could see Wave in front of Jet, looking forlorn as she slowly walked towards him. "We were a team, Jet. You told us that we'd be a team forever. Do you not remember everything? When your father handed down his ship to you? Making our Extreme Gears? All the races we won? The plans we had to find out the truth of the Babylonians? Don't you remember? Or... were you too corrupted by greed like I suspected?"

Jet bit his lip and lowered his head.

"It always seemed like money mattered to you more than your friends, and even though you tried to hide it, I felt it. Jet, look at me."

He continued to stare at the ground.

"I SAID **LOOK** AT ME!"

Jet did, and I could see her holding a picture. I had to buzz around the swallow and when I did...

I saw a picture of the three making very silly expressions. Jet was stretching his beak open with his fingers, holding out his tongue, while Wave was giving a middle finger and had a smug smile while doing so, and finally Storm had a very goofy expression on his face as he let his tongue out.

"Does this picture mean anything to you? Don't you even remember ANYTHING about this picture? Am I gonna have to live my life knowing that two of the people on this picture are dead, and that this one," she pointed at Jet on the photo. "...murdered this one?"

Jet said nothing.

"It seems like you aren't gonna say anything. Fine by me. Tell you what,"

Suddenly, she ripped the picture in two and threw the pieces at Jet.

"That's what I think about your fucking team and the memories we made, since you want to throw them away like that."

"Wave-" Jet croaked.

"Don't fucking talk to me anymore."

She turned around and hung her head. "Go ahead, Egg Robo. Go ahead and execute him. I don't care anymore. He's already dead to me."

"I... Wave... I didn't-"

"You didn't WHAT? Mean to do this? Or are you only saying that because you got caught?"

Jet didn't say anything.

"It's what I thought..."

"I wanted to take the fall for Storm!"

Wave turned around.

"Okay fine... you want the truth? I wanted that hedgehog dead. I don't deny that. But... when I realized that Storm would be executed..."

* * *

 **EARLIER THAT DAY**

 _"Good job, you did it!" Jet said as he snuck into the supply closet of the artist's studio, seeing Storm by Sonic's dead body._

 _"I'm glad that I made you happy, boss! Now we won that bet!" Storm replied, giving a thumbs up._

 _"Say, what do you wanna do with your half? Maybe redecorate that room of yours? You know how many holes were in there."_

 _"The holes are just part of the décor, boss! It reminds me about how strong I am!"_

When he said that, I stopped. I realized something.

There would be no money waiting for US, only him. I realized that Storm would be executed if he got caught, knowing full well that bee and the croc usually are good at finding out the truth. And I... I...

 _"Storm, turn around."_

 _"Alright boss! Dunno why but... whatever you say! Hey, by the way boss... what are you gonna do with the money?"_

 _"The money..." he said, slowly inching towards the wrench rack and grabbing one of them as quietly as possible. "I think I wanna buy a frame."_

 _"A frame?"_

 _"For a pic of all three of us. We're gonna get Wave out as well, you know. The Babylon Rogues go out in style," he inched ever so closer._

 _"You bet they do! Tell me more about the money, boss! How much was-"_

And then I swinged. He never finished that sentence...

* * *

"Do you think this changes anything?" Blaze asked. "Even if you couldn't live with making him be the blackened when it was something you ordered, you still killed Storm."

Jet nodded, not saying anything.

"How cruel..." Tikal commented.

Wave still said nothing. Only kept her back away from Jet.

"Well, it seems like we have a bit of melodrama going on!" Egg Robo said. "Don't worry. Greed can affect the human mind in such horrid ways! It seems like Jet is a personification of all seven of the deadly sins!"

"All seven?" Espio asked.

"Greed, wanting more and more money despite the fact that the Babylon Rogues were rich beyond belief. Pride, thinking so highly of himself and seeing everyone that wasn't his teammates as lower than him. Sloth, making his teammates do his work and commanding them around like they're nothing more than his own personal slaves. Wrath, well... does this one need explaining? Envy, always envious of people who claimed to be faster than them. Don't think I heard about your late-night mumblings about how Sonic isn't as fast as you! Gluttony, for being such a good racer in tip-top physical shape, you sure do eat a lot and not care about what it could be as long as your face is stuffed, huh? And as for Lust you may ask? Well, don't think I know about your secrets when it comes to Wave... Now do you all see? Jet is the perfect example of the most sinful a person can be! There's no hidden metaphor and especially this isn't some 'pseudo-complex stuff about hiding your truths or how far you would go to see what happened to your loved ones or yada yada. Nope! It's been about Jet's greed and sinful nature! In fact, we should be calling you the 'Ultimate Sinner'! And like with all sinful people, their sins get punished! And this isn't some ceremony involving holy water! Although, that would be a good metaphor about washing your sins by punishing you by ways of drowning you in holy water... damn it! Why didn't I come up with that! Argh, oh well! Whatever! The time for punishing is coming!"

"Punishing?" Jet asked. "Oh... no... no NO NO NOOOO!" he began to rip the feathers off of his head. "PLEASE NO, I BEG YOU DON'T!"

"AT LAST! AT LAST AT LAAAAST!" Rosie screamed. "Get me my popcorn, this is gonna be a FUCKING show!"

"I... please Egg Robo!" Jet got on his knees. "Please just let Rosie end me and get it over with! You don't need to do this extra punishment thing! PLEASE!"

"That's right, Egg Robo! IT'S WHAT HE WANTS!"

"No can do, you two!" Egg Robo replied. "You deserve the VERY extra special punishment I created for you!"

Jet began to sob and scream. "STORM! FORGIVE ME!"

Suddenly, Wave stood in front of the kneeling hawk and spit on him.

"That's what Storm would do if he were here," she said.

"And now, the time for punishing has come! And now, I've prepared a VERY special punishment for Jet the Hawk, the Ultimate Extreme Gear Racer!" Egg Robo said.

"STOP!" Rosie screamed. "I still need to get my REVEEEENGE!"

The robot looked at her and got a shine in his eyes. "Hmm... Hmmmm... HM! Tell you what, Rosie. I won't let you kill him... but if you want to, I'd be super happy to let you bring down the sentence! Consider this a very special Egg Robo offer just for this punishment only!"

"ALL RIGHT! Thank you, Mr. Robot! And NOW, birdface... time for you to experience what my Darling Sonikku went through!" Rosie ran up to the stand and sat down. "Wow, this stand is so comfy! I can see why you like this! Okay so uh... how do I bring up the button thing you use?"

"It's the green button on the right arm stand! Don't slam the button too hard!"

"Alright!" she pressed the button, revealing the red button Egg Robo usually pressed with his gavel.

"AAAAAARGH!" Jet screaming, holding his head and still screaming.

"Let's get this started! IT'S PUNISHMENT TIIIIIIIME! KYAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Rosie slammed her fist on the button as the lights dimmed out. The curtains in the room rose, revealing the same red background with an 8-bit sprite of Jet in the middle. Words displayed as that same 'game over'-like music played from last two times.

 **"GAME OVER**

 **Jet the Hawk has been found guilty for the murder of Storm the Albatross, and to a very slight degree, Sonic the Hedgehog (even though it technically doesn't count.** )

 **COMMENCING EXECUTION!"**

Unlike before, the wall behind Jet opened up, but instead of a collar tightening around Jet's neck, his feet were clamped. He began to scream and held his arm out as he was dragged away into the darkness, all of us following behind.

* * *

 _Jet opened his eyes as he heard the sound of cheering. He looked around to see a starting line and various Egg Robo's on Extreme Gear. He looked down at his feet and gawked when he saw that his feet was clamped shut on an Extreme Gear, and then looked to the side to see all of the Green Hills students and various Egg Robos holding snacks watching as spectators._

 _An Egg Robo wearing a revealing outfit came out with a flag. "3..."_

 _"2..."_

 _"1..."_

 _"GO!_

 **Execution:**

 **The Great Extreme Gear Tournament Qualifier! Race the Finish!**

 _Everyone began to speed off as the race began. It was a death-defying course with various deadly traps such as bottomless holes, spikes, and fire. Various Egg Robos fell into these traps, with Jet able to avoid all of them in spite of his clamped feet. He could feel an explosion behind him as he zoomed ahead, letting his arms out._

 _Jumping off of a ledge, Jet began to ride a Jetstream as a large plane began to fly ahead from the hawk and the remaining Egg Robos there were. Jet could see the finish line at the top of the plane, and began to go faster, pushing one of the Egg Robo's who was close at first place. As he began to ride closer to the plane, reaching the engine of the plane._

 _However, little did Jet know was that there was a bomb under his Extreme Gear, and the Egg Robo that had been pushed by him held the detonator. He set it off, exploding the bottom part of the Gear and losing his speed. However, as Jet looked ahead... he saw that he was about to be sucked into the engine of the plane._

 _With one last large scream of fear, panic, and desperation, Jet screamed and howled as he was sucked into the engine of the plane and shredded beyond belief, the walls of the engine being coated in an unrecognizable mess of blood and flesh, with a little bit of green feathers here and there._

 _The Egg Robo who had detonated the Extreme Gear finally reached the finish line, jumping up and down as he was handed a trophy and party ball filled with confetti was set off._

* * *

I felt sick.

I... I didn't even try to hide it. I threw up.

Watching people get crushed was one thing. Watching someone being shredded alive was something no person should even bear witness to. I could hear Jet's haunting screams just before he reached the blades of the engine ringing in my ears. Even if I couldn't pity Jet for what he did to my friends... deep down, I still felt like there was some need to protect him like everyone else.

I could also see many of the others feeling sick. Even Vector looked disturbed at what happened. I'm guessing even the most hardened of detectives feel sick seeing gruesome murders.

What was worse? Crushed by bumpers? Having a space colony fall on you? Or being shredded by a plane engine? I didn't know and I especially didn't care. When... when was our despair going to end?

Egg Robo finally popped in between us, a little bit of flesh on his face. "Wow, that was so fun! Getting a nice and shiny trophy, and the celebration was fun too! Hey... why are you all looking at me like that?"

He then noticed the flesh bit on his face. "Oh, sorry about that! Lemme get this cleaned off!" He vanished, and then seconds later, came back. "There we go! Now... isn't it so tragic that you can't let go of your connection to the outside world? I mean, you think after two executions, Jet would have known that. Oh well! At least his death was quick and painless!"

Painless? You describe being shredded alive as PAINLESS?!

"Hey, I'm not complaining! At least he finally got what was coming for him..." Rosie said before bursting into tears. "FOR KILLING MY DARLING SONIKKUUUUUUUUU!"

"Even if Jet was not a good person... how DARE you mock him now..." Tikal said, out of breath and looking like she was seconds from a break down.

"Defending him when he made fun of you all the time?" Egg Robo asked. "Just like the Ultimate Pacifist herself! Oh well! You know the rules! Just as long as you don't kill, this won't happen! Of course, that all depends on how BAD you wanna get out! HO HO HO HOOOOOO!"

Egg Robo vanished as I felt two hands touch my shoulders. I looked up to see Vector and Espio by my side.

"It's okay to be scared," Espio said.

"But we ain't gonna give up our fight," Vector added.

I looked at them and then at the remaining friends I had left. Amy, Tikal, Blaze, Big, Silver, and... Wave...

I saw that Wave still turned her back from everyone else. Frowning, knowing that she needed comfort, I buzzed over to her.

"Wave?" I said, putting her hand on her shoulder. When I did, she immediately pushed it off.

"Go away, shorty. I don't need your sympathy."

She turned around and walked off, heading towards the elevator. As she did though...

I swore for a brief second; I heard her sniff.

* * *

When we left the courtroom (Wave left before us), Vector stopped all of us before we got out of the door.

"We need to talk," he said. "It's 'bout the whereabouts of D."

"Of D?" Silver asked. It took him a minute to realize what Vector meant. "Ohhhh, you mean Di-"

"Yeah, them. As ya know, D is still missin', and none of the three people killed today had the key to 'em. That means that the one who stole D is one of us still. I ain't gonna point fingers or make yeh stay here until someone confesses, but this game is worthless. Yer only delayin' things more the longer D is hidden. Let's just focus this next few days on findin' D, okay?"

We all nodded. Vector turned around and walked off as everyone else did the same. Returning to my room, I took my helmet off and sighed. I couldn't help but think back to Jet's execution, as well as Wave's response. How would have things been if all three of them did survive? Would they finally have their happy ending? Would they finally learn to grow from the experience?

I looked up at the camera. I felt sick just knowing Egg Robo was watching me right now. And so, I buzzed up to the camera and hung up my helmet on it, not caring if he could still hear a thing as I got ready for bed to hopefully try and forget this day.

* * *

 **LATER THAT NIGHT**

Egg Robo angrily bounced in his chair, pouting. "Why why why?! Why is that bee starting to get so bad on my nerves?! He's supposed to be average at everything, AND YET... he's solving everything like he's been playing mystery games since forever!"

The mystery person from last time simply looked at Egg Robo.

"I swear, I hope he becomes the next victim or blackened... I could do without honey in my life!"

"Do you fear him?"

"Fear? Oh no no no! Oh... okay maybe a little but... He doesn't have any chance against me!"

The mystery person narrowed their eyes.

"Now leave! I have another meeting!"

The person nodded as they left the room. Just then, a black furred individual came into the room as Egg Robo prepared himself another glass one wine.

"You called about my assignment?" they asked.

"Ah, that!" Egg Robo replied. "As you know, you were brought here to kill Vector the Crocodile. Well... plans are starting to change. While Vector is a thorn on my side, there's a new priority target I have for you..."

He got out a folder, and showed Charmy's picture to this mystery person.

"When the times comes... I need you to take a hit on Charmy Bee..."

"Very well. I understand."

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

Despair Hill Zone Act 2

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Amy Rose/Rosie the Rascal

Vector the Crocodile

Espio the Chameleon

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Blaze the Cat

Wave the Swallow

Tikal the Echidna

Big the Cat

 **Deceased**

Cream the Rabbit

Rouge the Bat

Miles 'Tails' Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog

Storm the Albatross

Jet the Hawk

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **(AN: And so, Chapter 3 comes to a gruesome end as the truth is revealed: Jet ordered Storm to kill Sonic, who killed the albatross upon realizing that he would be executed for something he did. Is that taking responsibility, or Jet showing pure cowardace? But the only thing that's true is that he won't be around to mock anyone else, resulting in Wave having no one on her team anymore...**

 **Jet's execution is based partially on Sonic's loss in Sand Ruins in Sonic Riders, where Wave cheated by planting a bomb under Sonic's EX gear and setting it off. To think that he finally got a piece of his own medicine for the first time... was it justified, or pure cruel?**

 **This, and more questions arise in Chapter 4: Livin' in Desparadise, coming soon!)**


	26. Chapter 4 (Daily Life 1)

**(AN: Welcome back to Despair Hill Zone! Apologies for a bit of a wait, I only now got this proofread and am posting it now even though I'm on vacation in New York and I'm taking a hiatus for the week that I'm there! Thankfully, this should provide the fill you need!**

 **Of notice, I should mention that this Chapter of Despair Hill Zone is one that never appeared in the original DR. This is a completely new chapter created by myself, with a brand new scenario, brand new everything. Since there are extra characters compared to the original, it was the only way to circumvent this. I'm hoping you all will enjoy my attempt to make my own scenario!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo checked himself out in the mirror in front of him, grabbing his stomach and pulling it down._

 _"My goodness, have I put on some weight? Or maybe my shell has hardened more than it has…" he mused, getting closer to the mirror and placing his hand on his reflection. "When I'm feeling self-conscious, I ask the other Egg Robo… 'Who is more beautiful than anyone else in the world?' And you know what the other Egg Robo says? He starts singing a song about how a queen is jealous of me, while I eventually end up with a microphone and disco lights while caricatures dance and play inappropriate music for the stereotypes they're supposed to be."_

 _Egg Robo faced forward, letting the mirror fall. "It isn't very helpful. Sometimes I wonder if this is how I lie to myself…"_

* * *

When I woke up this morning, I felt… I felt calm.

I didn't know how to describe it. I felt like I had gotten the first beauty rest I had ever gotten in forever. When I opened my eyes, that's when I saw… sunlight.

I gasped, turning my head to the side to see the windows no longer boarded up, but also no camera. I buzzed towards the window, realizing that everything was okay.

I sighed deeply. Was this killing game… just a dream? Just one massive messed up dream that I had after my first day? It didn't even matter. I hummed as I buzzed to the shower, getting ready for my perfect morning.

Upon leaving my room, I was interrupted by a voice of… someone I hadn't heard in forever.

"Good morning, Charmy!"

I turned to see Cream smiling as the hallway of Green Hills was more happy than usual.

"CREAM!" I yelled, hugging her while beginning to cry.

"My goodness, Charmy! It's not like I got hurt," she giggled. "What got into you this morning?"

"I... I had the m-most messed up nightmare ever," I sniffed, rubbing my eyes. "It's like… like I dreamt over two weeks in one night and yet I dunno how… I'm just so glad to see you're o-okay!..."

"I think I've heard of that phenomena before… but never mind! We must go to breakfast! Our classmates are waiting for us!"

"Classmates?"

I gasped, realizing that if Cream was still alive, then Tails, Rouge, Shadow, Knuckles, Sonic, Storm, and Jet had to be too! This got me even more excited.

"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"

I grabbed Cream's hand as I rushed to the dining hall, laughing and having a good time.

"Really Charmy, it sounds like you had such an awful nightmare if this is how you are this morning! What happened in your dream?" she asked.

"I'll let you know later! I don't wanna recall it now!"

As we arrived in the dining hall, I saw all 15 of my classmates sitting at a table, all of which wearing the zone uniform. Sure enough, everyone who was either killed or executed was okay.

"Oh, good morning Charmy!" Tikal said cheery. "Oh no! You look very sad! What happened?"

"You guys!" I said, bursting into even more tears.

"Jeez, what got into you this morning?" Rouge asked. "It's not like we died you know,"

"IN MY DREAM YOU DIIIIID!"

"Huh? Me? Hey, why'd I die anyway?! That's low, Charmy!"

"You look spooked and yet super happy!" Silver said. "What happened? What's this about a dream?"

And sure enough, as I got breakfast, I told everyone at our table about the killing game and Egg Robo and everything that happened. Many people gasped; others didn't look too phased.

"Could something like that even happen?" Amy asked, worried.

"If it does, I'll crack that fucking egg into shreds!" Shadow replied.

"Tch, don't be too worried, kid. It's just a dream," Jet added, putting his feet on the table. I wouldn't lie, it made me happy to see Jet was alive too. "But man, is that really how I go? Bummer."

"Oh, don't believe the bee. He probably just fell on his head in the middle of the night or something," Wave said.

"It does sound… interesting," Knuckles replied softly.

"Besides, everything's gonna be fine!" Tails said. "Now we gotta get ready! We shouldn't be late for class!"

"What?" Storm asked, surprised. "I thought class was gonna be at 10! Not now!"

"Mr. Kintobor sent out a message last night…" Big replied. "Said that class was scheduled for earlier…"

"If he thinks I can't get there on time, he's got another thing coming!" Sonic said, rushing to put his plates on the kitchen conveyor belt and zooming back to our table. "Last one there owes me a chili dog!"

As he sped off, Jet and Amy chased after him.

"If you think I'm gonna lose, you got another thing coming!" the hawk called.

"My Darling Sonic! Waaaaait!" the pink hedgehog called out as the two left the room.

"And she left her mess, how ironic," Blaze said. "Well, go ahead and have fun cleaning it up. As for me, I'm going to head on to class."

Just like she normally did, Blaze got up elegantly and headed out of the door. One by one, each person left. As I did, I couldn't help but notice Vector and Espio holding hands.

"Hey, Cream?" I asked. "When did Vector and Espio start holding hands?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" she replied. "Vector and Espio were already dating when they arrived at Green Hills! Don't you think they're so cute together?"

Huh?...

In my dream, they weren't dating though… I wouldn't lie; how could I forget something like that?

"Y-Yeah, I agree."

"Alright, now let's pick up the rest of our mess and head to class!"

As Cream and I stayed behind to clean up our table, we talked and chatted like it was the good old days. I wouldn't lie, not getting to talk to Cream after she was dead in my dream for so long felt so amazing. I felt like we had finally gotten the conversation I had wanted for so long.

"So, that whole killing game thing… does it still bother you after talking about it?" she asked.

"It does a little," I nodded. "But… seeing that it was nothing more than a dream, I feel… okay! I feel like nothing can go wrong, that I was just being stupid and just nervous. Still… why murder of all things to dream about is…"

"A little dark, but I guess the mind can be dark when you're stressed. Not to worry, Charmy. As long as I'm here, I'll protect you from your nightmares!"

I smiled. It was the good ol' Cream that I knew, one that didn't even think of betraying me.

Betrayal… I don't think that word existed here. This was the world that I was gonna be in, not some stupid make-believe murder world.

As we made our way to class, I looked at all the chairs.

"Cream, I don't remember what seat I'm at!" I asked her.

"You're the one by the window. I'm right behind you actually!"

Cream skipped to her seat, placing her suitcase on her desk and sitting down. She smiled as I buzzed over to my seat. We waited for our professor as I could watch Jet snickering to himself while texting, Vector talking to Espio while he looked at him longingly, Big petting a frog on his desk, Sonic and Tails playing tic-tac-toe while Amy hugged the blue hedgehog, amongst the other things people were doing. I smiled, knowing that here, this is where everything was right.

A minute later, the door opened and Tails got up from his chair.

"Everyone, please rise!" he said. The others did as they were told, with me following behind last. "And now bow for Mr. Kintobor!"

I was a bit confused. Was this what you did here or?... Nevertheless, I followed everyone by bowing, not wanting to be the odd one out.

"Sit down!"

As I sat back down, I took notice of our professor and freaked out. He was… he looked almost like Egg Robo. In fact, he looked EXACTLY like Egg Robo, down to the mustache, the coat, the glasses, etc. The only difference was that instead of an egg, he was human. Normally, it's rare to see humans on Mobius, so I was a little shocked at first.

"Good morning class," he said. "Sorry for scheduling class earlier than expected. It turns out I have a doctor's appointment at 1, so I have to get ready by 12. Well, let's not worry about that too much and begin our first lesson."

He turned to the chalkboard and began to write 'HOPE' on the board. Afterwards, he wrote 'DESPAIR next to 'HOPE'.

"Despair and Hope, can anyone tell me what they have in common?"

Wave raised her hand. "Hope, defined as anything to give inspiration to oneself despite bad situations. And Despair, being the opposite of hope, is defined as… well, a feeling where hope doesn't exist."

"Very good, Wave! In humanity, we see many day to day things that give us hope. For example, you can find plenty of videos about good deeds that people do to people like the homeless or the elderly. Being a hero means you just about anyone really! And as heroes, it's very important you learn about hope and despair. To be a good hero is to inspire hope onto the people, which in turn can help them be kind to others thanks to the hope you gave them to be good people. Despair is, of course, what we attempt to prevent in this world. When villains attack a city, the people feel despair don't they? It's only when they see their heroes defend their city and their people does society see hope, because they can depend on the heroes for hope."

"That's good and all, Mr. Kintobor but… what does this have to do with us? I think I'm hopeful!" Storm said.

"Well, think about this, Storm. What in your life gives you hope?"

"Uhh… making my teammates proud… winning races… and uh… making… making my family proud by sending money back to them."

"Well, that's just a few good examples! You give hope to your teammates and your family. Now, we must channel that energy into your talent to combine them both with hope. You, for example, are the Ultimate Bodyguard. You can defend important people in times of crisis and give them hope to defend others who aren't strong enough to fight back."

Vector raised his hand. "Mr. Kintobor, sorry to interrupt but… what's the hidden meanin' behind this lesson?"

"Pardon?"

"Vector is right," Espio added. "You mentioned yesterday that our lesson was going to be on the basics on being a hero. Why are we talking about this?"

Mr. Kintobor looked at the two reptiles and then smiled. "Well, I'm glad you asked. See, it's actually about the surgery I'm getting."

"It is?" I asked.

"Why… yes, Charmy. Mr. Ultimate Average Student himself…" Mr. Kintober walked closer to me. "I decided… to present myself as Despair."

"Present yourself as Despair?"

"Oh, don't be afraid Charmy!" Cream said, smiling. "Mr. Kintobor talked about it yesterday! He said that in order to prepare ourselves for our final exam, he's going to gradually become the embodiment of Despair so we can defeat him!"

"Uh… Mr. Kintober?"

"No need to worry, Charmy… it's not that scary…" He was now at my desk, crouching down and looking straight as me. "After all, you have to be the best hero. After all, what would happen to this world if hope was overthrown and Despair ruled all?"

"We would have-"

"An eternal utopia where despair is the only way of life…"

"Mr. Kintobor, you're scaring me…"

"Am I? I'm not scary, Charmy. I'm…"

He took off his glasses, revealing one eye completely hollow and the other eye completely red. "JUST PLAYING MY PART! HO HO HO HOOOOOOOO!"

I put my back against the wall, but as I did, I felt it become super-hot. I hissed as I took my back off the wall, watching Mr. Kintobor laugh as I looked to Cream for help, who was faced away from me.

"Cream! What's going on?!"

"Nothing, Charmy!"

And then…

As she turned to face me, her face began to collapse inwards as her eyes disappeared, blood pouring from her eyes and mouth. I screamed as I looked around the classroom, seeing it become nothing more than a red mess with eyes staring at me from every part of the room. I could hear Egg Robo's laugh playing in a loop as Tikal, Vector, Espio, Wave, Silver, Blaze, Big, and Amy were on the floor face down. Meanwhile, I watched as Cream's mouth didn't have any kind of teeth… in fact, her body looked to be nothing more than a carcass filled with blood pouring from every orifice. I watched as a flat Shadow ran around the class without a head, Tails raising up his body from the floor to reveal a good chunk of his body was completely crushed and stuck on the floor. While that happened, Sonic, Storm, and Knuckles were all dancing and singing about the wounds on their heads and then suddenly dropped to the floor. Rouge simply stared at her phone as a spike sliced through her body over and over again, and Jet… just slowly dipped his hand into the vent on the ceilings where I could see small bits of chunk fall to the ground.

I put my hands over my ears and shut my eyes, wanting to escape from whatever personal hell this was, only to open them when I found them too hot. When I did, I saw that my desk was no longer made from wood but from glass. In fact, it was a mirror. I could see my eyes had…

I didn't know how to even describe it. My pupils were pitch black, and my iris' were red. I simply sat there, realizing that I was now apart of the personal hell that Egg Robo tormented me through everyday. A personal hell that I couldn't escape. A personal hell where screams from someone or something just tormented me.

I̵̛͓̰̼̪̼͌̐́̓̿́̈͗̓̄͘͝ ̸̨͚͇̗̺͚̂͋̿͆̀͘ͅJ̴̛̪̥͈͔̥͈̙̽̊̀́̍̾̿̿͊̈́̚͘U̶̢̡̪̫͖̓͋͂̈̔͐͘͘͠͝S̵͕̮̦̟͓̺͈͇͉̞͒͆̚T̴͇̆́̉̈́̇̂̄͘ ̶̰͇̯̞̖̟̤̆̀̿̐̎͋͋̀̕W̸̨̮̘̝͈̙̋̊͛̒͗̚A̵̛̯̤̬̜̙͖͊̌̀̀̊͒͊͌͂̾̈̉͌̚ͅN̵̢͖̬͓̮̩̬̦̫̊̃̿̑͐̈́̈́͌̚̚Ţ̶̡̛̤̠̠̉̉̔́͗͘Ȩ̸̡̡̹̟̮̝̱͓̈́͗͗͂͒̈́̃̽̈̚͝͠͝ͅͅD̷̨͎͚̪͚͓̖̟̋͑̋̅̈̒͊́͋͂́͘͘͝ͅͅ ̸̡̧̲̱̺͈̺̣̥͚̪̼̝̞͓͊͂̍͂͊̉͌̾̅̅̍͒̈T̸̝̯̮̺̫̩̼̼̲̖̯̾͜͜O̶̥̦͍͇̮̾̂̈̓̇̈̆̒͝ ̷̖̯͎̈́̀̏̾̔̓͒̂͆̈́̇͝͠͝͝S̶̗̆̊̓Ļ̷̗̽̍̆͂Ę̸̨͎̘̫͔̥̭̫̗͙̘̗̹̏̄̂̍̈́͊͊̈́͆͆͜Ȩ̷̻̺̀̐̄̒͐́Ṕ̸̡͎̩̮̱̞͋̄.̷̨̺̾̂̉̿̽̾̀͜.̴̧̠̠̺͐̇̆̅.̴͔͎̘͕̍̀̚͘

* * *

I woke up in my bed.

I heard those words, _"Good morning, everyone! It's now 7 a.m., and nighttime is officially over! It's time to not only rise and shine, but also to get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"_

I put my pillow over my head, wanting to cry.

But nothing came out.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents:**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Livin' in Desparadise**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 1**

* * *

I don't know how, but I was able to still get out of bed, wash up, and head to the dining hall. Before I even entered, I could hear the cries of someone. Sure enough, when I walked in, I saw Amy sobbing intensely as Tikal held her shoulder.

"MY DARLING SONIIIIIIIC!" the pink hedgehog bemoaned, not stopping one minute to take a breath. I could see her eyes were red and puffy and saw the almost empty tissue box by her.

"Oh, good morning, Charmy," Tikal said. "I'm… sorry you have to see Amy like this. This morning, when Rosie finally snapped out of it and returned Amy back to normal, we explained to her what happened and she began to sob. She hasn't calmed down yet, so please understand."

I watched as the hedgehog continued to cry, grabbing another tissue and wiping her tears and blowing her nose, all of which did nothing to her emotional state.

"You're right. I'd imagine she'd be super upset about Sonic's death. Let's let her grieve. She hasn't gotten the chance," I replied. As I examined the room, I noticed that everyone was there. Everyone, except one person… "Hey, where's Wave?"

"I asked if she was going to come to breakfast and I got no response," Espio said. "Likely, she's still mourning Jet and Storm, but doing so on her own terms. Let her be for now."

Wave…

I couldn't deny, even with the heinous act Jet did, he didn't deserve a death like that. Watching her teammate be murdered… finding out his killer was their leader… watching said leader die horrifically…

It's no wonder I not only had that awful nightmare but makes sense why Wave refused to come out.

"Man though, this group feels so small now," Silver said. "I mean, remember when we had a whole bunch of people at this table? Now we're down to less than ten people!"

"Unfortunately, people's desires to leave are tested to the extreme if these motivations are anythin' to go by," Vector said. "Egg Robo knows how to get people and exploit their weaknesses."

"Personally, I have nothing that Egg Robo can use against me," Blaze smiled. "He may try all he wants, but I'd much prefer to play by his rules than try to defy him. Admittedly, fighting him seems difficult. Oh well, it seems like the ones who died here never truly understood the game."

"Now you're acting like the old Sonic!" Tikal scolded.

"On the contrary, Sonic simply saw this as a competition to see how far he could last. However, I don't see this as a game. Egg Robo does. He wants to see who can take the bait the quickest."

"I thought he wanted everyone to stay here…"

"No, dear. He knows we all want nothing but to get out, and he feeds that desire."

Tikal looked down at her half-eaten bagel. "I guess you're right about that."

"Nevertheless, what are our plans for today?" Espio asked.

"A new floor opened, right?..." Big added.

"Yer right about that. And remember, we gotta also continue our search fer… IT. It's still out there, and the last three people to die had nothin' to do with it. Once we're finished up here, we should head down to the fourth floor," Vector said. "I wonder what's gonna wait fer us there?"

"What about Amy?" Silver asked, the pink hedgehog continuing to cry.

"Let's… let's let her be. She's just as upset as Wave right now and needs time to shed all the tears she can."

I also felt bad for Amy too. It was clear that she felt genuine anguish towards losing the one person she attached herself to. Maybe later, I'll treat her to some ice cream if there's any in the fridge.

That didn't matter however. I got done with breakfast quickly and buzzed on over to the fourth floor. When I arrived, I noticed the lights that lit the hallway was like… the shade of orange that honey had?

Now my mouth was watering. For all the delicious things they had here to eat, one lacking thing was honey. I was just hoping I'd have some soon. After learning about Tikal's thing with comfort food, I realized quickly that honey was mine.

But enough of that. I had to go on and explore around. Looking at my map on my PAD, I saw there were quite a few rooms and only two classrooms. Not like there was gonna be much there anyway…

Passing by two sets of bathrooms, I turned the corner to my right and found my first door. It was blue and had a sign on it that said, 'DATA CENTER'. Figuring this was a good place to start, I placed my hand on the knob, turned it, and…

Nothing happened.

The room was locked.

"Huh? Why's this place locked?" I asked myself, fiddling with the doorknob. Just like I expected, no such luck happened in getting the door open.

"Oh, forget about it."

Moving on from the door, I returned to the main hallway and decided to head on over to the massive room with the piano that my PAD's map displayed. When I arrived, I saw a massive number of instruments, as well a stage with a sleek black piano in the middle. I also saw Vector, examining one of the drums by the wall.

"Hey, Vector," I said, buzzing up to him. "Wow, I didn't know instruments were your thing!"

"They were. When I was young anyway," he replied. "I really wanted nothin' more then to be a DJ, or hell, any kinda musician really. I liked how music sounded, and I even enjoyed just making sounds with anythin' I could get mah hands on."

"What caused you to change your mind?"

"Mah… nah, I ain't gonna talk about that."

"Vector… are you sure you're not hiding something? Wave still keeps accusing you of being the spy because you don't wanna reveal anything about yourself."

"I dun care what she thinks. She can go ahead and think whatever she wants. I ain't the spy, but I ain't just gonna casually reveal anythin' 'bout mahself. It ain't yer business."

"I just… I wanna believe in you, Vector. I doubt you're the spy at all but… I'm your friend. Espio is your friend. Even the others are your friends. There's no need to still be cold in spite of you becoming nicer to us."

Vector sighed. "Look, maybe not today but… in the future, I could maybe tell a thing or two. But no more. Now, I'm currently in the middle of investigatin'. If ya need anythin' else, make it quick."

"I don't have anything else…"

"Then I'll be on mah way. I'll tell yeh everything when I finish up lookin' around here."

Nodding, I left Vector alone as I looked around at the room. The massive piano in the room seemed to be calling me, so heading over to it, I sat down on the little stool by the piano as I opened the dust cover for the piano keys. I touched one of the keys, letting the sound of it bounce throughout the room. I could see Vector stare at me as the sound died out.

"Whaddya gonna do, play me a tune?" he asked.

"I actually dunno how to play this thing…" I replied. I watched as he had a smile on his face, walked over, and motioned for me to scoot over. As he sat down, I could feel the stool creek slightly.

 _"Gaia, please prevent us from falling onto the floor,"_ I prayed internally. Vector cracked his knuckles, his head, and took a deep breath. Then, closing his eyes, he began to play a very complicated yet short song. I could see the movements in Vector's hands go by quickly as I was just awestruck. I never even heard of the song before but… hearing it bounce through the music room just made it seem more beautiful.

The song only lasted for about 39 seconds, but when he was done, Vector sighed.

"Man, never thought I'd be playin' that again," he said.

"Vector…" I began to clap. "That was amazing!"

"Heh, I guess yer very surprised to see me play the piano."

"Where'd you learn it?"

"Self-taught mahself at a young age. It was a good way to destress from things when stuff with mah family was… chaotic, to say the least."

"What was that song anyway?"

"Cello Suite No. 1. Took me 'bout two years to learn just 39 seconds. It ain't an easy piece to play, and that's just the beginnin' part. How'd I do fer bein' so rusty?"

"I never even would have guessed you were rusty! I'd say you were amazing!"

"Heh, well thanks fer strokin' the ego. Maybe one day, I'll teach yeh how to play. Not that song though. It's probably a little too complicated fer yeh," he then shook his head. "Anyway, I gotta stop gettin' distracted. C'mon, let's get back to what we were doin'. I assume yeh ain't done with yer investigation, right?"

"Correct."

"Then get a move on."

Vector got up from the stool as I felt it creek again. Getting off myself, I got one more look at the piano, and then a flashback to my dream from earlier that morning.

"Cream would have loved it here, I bet," I said, walking off.

* * *

After leaving the music room, I looked at my PAD's map and noticed that next to the music room was a peculiar room with a desk with flags on it. Buzzing to the next hallway over and looking at the sign on top of the door, it said 'Headmaster's Office'.

Right then and there, I could have dropped my PAD right then and there. Was the headmaster's office here the whole time? Could I FINALLY explore something that'll lead to a deeper clue?

All of this and more was going through my mind, so like an excited kid on his birthday, I zoomed over to the door. Grabbing the doorknob, I turned it and…

Nothing.

Much like the data center, the door here was locked as well.

"Damn it…" I bemoaned, my face falling. I turned around and headed out of the small corridor leading to the office. Heading down the hall, I was just about to enter a set of classrooms when one of the doors nearest to me opened.

"Oh, hey there, Charmy!" Silver's voice sprung out. "Take a look at these!"

Turning around to face the white hedgehog, I saw him holding a few tennis balls.

"What are those doing here?" I asked.

"I dunno, but I think while I'm here, I should take up juggling!"

"Why?..."

"You tell me what I should do here besides wait till either someone kills me or die of boredom! In fact, watch! I was practicing just now and I think I got the hang of it!"

Silver began to juggle the pair of tennis balls he held, which he was able to at least keep going for a couple of seconds before one of the balls fell to the floor.

"Still trying?" I asked.

"Nope! No no no no no- I got this!"

Once again, he tried again, but dropped all the balls and almost fell to the ground trying to save them.

"DOOON'T give me that look, Charmy! I got this!" he said.

"Lemme guess, you wanna do a rubix cube while you're at it?"

"Should I? Wow, thanks for the idea, Charmy!"

"I didn't… oh, never mind.

The door next to the classroom Silver was in opened, revealing Big. He saw the two of us and was inticed by Silver's ability to juggle. While he was able to enjoy the crowd for a couple of seconds, once again he dropped one of them. Big however, clapped.

"That was really good!..." he said.

"Heh, thanks big guy!" Silver replied. "In fact, lemme do this!"

The telekinetic hedgehog closed his eyes as I watched the three balls rise from the ground as Silver began to spin all of them in a circle. Big was getting more into it as I realized this was my cue to leave.

After the two classrooms, which I assumed had nothing, I decided to head to the room next to the headmaster's office. When I arrived, I saw Blaze in the room.

"Ah, good afternoon, Charmy. Aren't these flowers so lovely?" she asked. I saw that on each desk in the room, there was a potted plant on it.

"Y-Yeah, they are. They kinda remind me of Cream in a way. Kinda wish she was here to enjoy it."

"Oh, don't live in the past, Charmy. While it's tragic what happened to Cream, unfortunately, there's nothing to be done."

"Still though, why plants? Isn't this an office? Where's all the computers?"

"Maybe they use these flowers as their computers?"

"Oh, don't be idiotic!"

"Telling me I shouldn't be idiotic? Maybe you are the idiot here. There is a chance they could use them like that here."

Who in their right mind would believe such a thing? Or was she just messing with me? The world was never gonna know. I shook my head, ready to explore the room when I saw a photo sticking out from the bottom of one of the desks.

"Hang on a minute…"

Buzzing to the photo, I saw that it was flipped upside down and stuck. I tried to lift the desk to move it but failed.

"Blaze?" I asked.

"Hm? What's the matter?"

"I need your help. Can you lift this thing up?"

Blaze walked over to see what I was talking about. "Hu hu hu… you should invest in some dumbbells if you can't lift such a thing. Ask Vector or Big, they probably know a thing or two about strength-"

"Can you stop being passive aggressive and help?"

"Oh, preventing me from having my fun. Very well. On the count of three, I'll lift the leg of the desk, and you pull the photo out quickly," she grasped her hands on the leg. "Okay… one… two… three!"

She lifted the leg as I quickly grabbed the photo, Blaze setting down the leg. "My goodness, that was a little heavy. Why did you need this anyway? I didn't even notice it. It blended into the floor."

Turning around the photo, that's when I stopped.

The photo displayed Jet and Storm arm wrestling with Sonic and Cream cheering them on. Jet I could see had his teeth grit as he closed his eyes while Storm looked confident, a vein popping on his bicep. I looked at Blaze, who in turn looked at me back.

"Blaze, this is what I was talking about last time! This is one of those weird photos! Remember? The last one had Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow!"

"Ah… so this is what it was? I thought you were making it up. But even this looks false itself. I mean, look at how happy everyone is. These same people were just complaining about how they didn't want to be stuck here. And they are… they're all dead."

"And it's almost like… they knew each other. I noticed that in the last image too. The other three seemed close even though we didn't know who any of us were when we came here. I mean, Jet and Storm seem obvious, but the others?"

Blaze didn't respond. Even she seemed to be as awestruck as I was.

"Quick, we have to get this to Vector," I said. "I tried to do it last time, but Egg Robo-"

Suddenly, I felt someone breathing behind my neck. "…did WHAT exactly, Mr. Bee?"

Yelping, I let the photo drop to the floor as Egg Robo snatched it. "Stealing my pictures, eh? You're lucky I'm still not gonna punish you a second time! It's my clumsy mistake that I keep dropping them, but can you blame me? I just got into scrapbooking and these marvelous pictures fit great into my personal scrapbook!"

"Give that back!"

"Or what, Charmy? Gonna challenge me to a 'Yo Mama' challenge for it? Sorry! I won every single match of that in history, and you'd be damned before you can even take my crown!"

"Normally, I think of the bee as a pest," Blaze said. "But you must hand back that picture just for one second. We need it as part of our investigation. After all, we CAN explore this school with minimal restriction."

"Yeah, well this picture is part of that restrictions! No lookie!"

"Can you at least confirm SOMETHING to us?" I asked.

"Wuzzat?"

"Is the picture real or not?"

"Ho ho ho… now that's a funny question. I have a question for YOU though: are YOU real or not?"

"Answer the damn question!"

"Alright, alright, geez! I'll admit it if you shut up! The picture is real, okay? You have my word on that!"

With that, Egg Robo vanished as I looked at Blaze.

"Well, at least you'll believe me this time?" I said.

"Yes, but it's a shame about our photo," she replied. "If only we could recover it."

She was right. It did suck that we lost yet another key piece of evidence, but thankfully Blaze can back me up. At least, as long as she told the truth.

With that however, I made my way out of the office and headed towards the final place on the map that I hadn't been to; a massive room by the classrooms with a few beakers as the location's icon. When I arrived at the door to the room, I noticed the sign above the door said, 'Chem Lab'.

Entering inside, I saw Espio on his tip toes, looking at various objects on the shelf. I decided not to bother him for the time being and looked at various parts of the room, such as the various sinks across each table, as well as the beaker set on each table too. Along with that was what looked to be a giant pressure cooker? At least, I THINK that's what it is, but I dunno why you'd need a pressure cooker that big.

IF it even is a pressure cooker…

I also saw a door that said 'storage closet', likely where all the chemicals for experiments is kept.

"Ah, fancy to see you here, Charmy," Espio suddenly said. I jumped a bit at how sudden he said this.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Because I'm a ninja."

"Is that a joke?"

"Take of it as you will."

Shrugging, I buzzed on over to where Espio was.

"These three shelves are so interesting," he said. "It seems this first shelf contains various types of supplements and vitamins. Protein, omega-3, amino acids, magnesium, just to name a few. It's such a great supply of them. I think using these should help with my training. You should try magnesium too, Charmy. It actually helps with bone structure and is a good blood thinner too."

"N-No problem, I'll give it a shot! I just… never really had them, that's all. Hey, what's on the other shelves by the way?"

"Hm, well shelf two contains stuff such as rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, items such as those. But as for shelf three… do be careful. I saw… poison in there."

"Poison?!"

I looked at the third shelf labeled, 'C', and saw various bottles with skulls and crossbones on the labels. I looked at Espio, and we both left the room, feeling too uncomfortable to be around such a dangerous substance.

* * *

When the two of us finally returned to the dining hall to let everyone know what we found, I was surprised to see… Wave there.

"Wave!" I said, buzzing up to her. "Are… are you okay?"

"If you're gonna ask that, couldn't you at least wait until the day after something traumatic?" she replied.

"Geez, sorry… I was just curious."

"To answer your question… I dunno if 'okay' is what I really call it, but still functioning like any living person, well… yeah."

More people came into the dining hall as we all surrounded Wave, clearly concerned about her.

"Look, for as tragic as yesterday was, all I can do is move on. Besides, I still have a game I'd like to win."

"Have you had no time to mourn over Jet and Storm, and yet you want things to go back to how they were?!" Tikal questioned, angry that she didn't seem concerned.

"Don't even say shit that you have no ways to back up, pacifist girl," the swallow grit her teeth. "I can mourn Jet and Storm as much as I want to, but they're not coming back. And besides, just because I've become 'softer' and I'm 'in mourning' doesn't mean I've joined your cause. I'm not gonna stoop that low."

Tikal puffed her cheeks but couldn't do much from there.

"Nonetheless, I just came here for something to eat and saw our favorite pink widow still crying into a tub of ice cream," she pointed at Amy, who was doing just as Wave said while her eyes were still red and puffy. "It also seems like you came back from somewhere. Tell me, how was the investigation?"

"Well, I was actually about to ask everyone!" Silver replied.

More like I'm the one who does it if the story so far is anything to go by.

"I guess I'll start! There were a few locked rooms on the fourth floor. Namely, the data center and the headmaster's office."

"Headmaster's office?" Wave asked. "Seems like the first place to go for clues. Still, I'm not surprised Egg Robo kept it locked up. There's probably TOO much in there."

"Couldn't we find a way to pick the lock? Or maybe be on the lookout to see when Egg Robo comes out of there?" Tikal asked.

"Screw the lock, I say bust the door down!" Silver said. He stopped as we suddenly saw Egg Robo breathing down his neck.

"WHAT… was that?" he asked. Silver yelped, backing up towards us. "No, Mr. Silver, DO please go on. WHAT were you talking about? Because I THINK I just heard you talking about wanting to bust the door of the headmaster's office down. AM I CORRECT?! Is THIS how you treat your school officials? BUSTING DOWN THEIR DOOR?! How would you like it if I caught you doing naughty things because I bust down YOUR door?!"

"I-I-I-I swear I didn't!" Silver got on both knees and bowed, begging for mercy.

"Are you sure? Because I don't like LIIIAAARS!"

"I SWEEEAR!"

"Hm… well, okay. But just so you DON'T do anything like that… I will now make a new rule! Breaking down any door is strictly prohibited!"

With that, Egg Robo left, and I heard our PAD's vibrate as mine told me that a new rule was added to the PAD.

"Thank you so much for giving us this new rule, Silver," Blaze said, smiling.

"Thank you?... Uh… you're wel-"

"Thank you as in, thank you for ruining our chances to find another clue."

Silver bit his lip.

"Still though…" Espio said. "If he made this new rule and has the door locked, then there can be no doubt that he's hiding something in there."

"I wish we could do something about that…" Big added.

"Speaking of things, I suppose I should continue from here. I examined the chem lab. While there were many kinds of protein supplements and vitamins and minerals, there's also things such as… poison."

"Poison?" Tikal said, looking worried.

"Don't go getting any ideas now!" Silver added.

"No, I don't think that poison should be involved," Espio replied. "They're all labeled, and likely it should be easy to find who would have used it. Still though… I don't like how it's in the open. It's almost like Egg Robo put it there as bait for us."

"That's certainly no doubt why it's there," Blaze added. "Nonetheless, I explored the office. There wasn't much to write home about. Just flowers on desks and nothing else. However, one thing I must mention was yet another photo."

"Another photo?" Vector asked.

"Charmy? Tell them."

"Do you guys remember that photo I said I found of Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow?" I said. "Blaze and I found another one of those photos. This time, the photo had Sonic, Cream, Jet, and Storm on it!"

Everyone looked at us two, shocked.

"What do you mean?!" Wave asked. "Jet and Storm would have NEVER known those two!"

"That's what I thought too. But… it was just like the last picture. No boarded windows, sunshine, and everyone looking happy. I'm starting to think the pictures have some connection. I mean, Egg Robo said they were real. And they're all depicting people who died. Argh…. I wish I knew what it meant."

Wave shook her head. "I can't believe this… and… you're not lying about this?"

"Blaze saw the whole thing. This time, I at least have a witness."

"I think when we get the chance, we need to explore the idea of those pictures," Vector said. "But now ain't the time. I'll continue with what I found. I examined the music room. Ain't much there to begin with, but I noticed a weird door at the far end of the room. It said it was a fire escape to the second floor of the dorms."

"The second floor?" Tikal asked. "Wait a minute… wasn't that area blocked off?"

"Exactly. And the fact that it's a fire escape is… a little weird frankly, but considerin' that might be our only way there, we got no choice to check it out. Or… at least we could, if we could get the damn door open.

"What do you mean?"

"I tried to open the door, but the knob was stuck. I even tried to bust down the door, but nothin' came of that either. Now that Egg Robo came up with that new rule, looks like there's nothin' I can do 'bout gettin' it open."

"How peculiar," Blaze said. "I think we should all give it a shot when we have the chance. Perhaps brute strength might not be what we need?"

"Yer free to try."

"I uh… guess I'm next?..." Big said. "I just explored a classroom… it's also boarded up as well…"

"Well… thank you for the… insight, Big," Blaze replied.

"That should be it, right?" Vector asked. "Then let's take a bath."

"A bath?" I asked. "Wait, what are you?"

"A BATH sure sounds fun and dandy right now, doesn't it?"

"Vector, you're confusing me."

"And yer confusin' me with how ya dun wanna take this bath. I'll be ready in a few."

Vector walked off, leaving us behind.

"What's he going on about?" Silver asked.

"If I had to guess… oh, yeah. It's about IT," Wave replied. "Well, I'll join him. You all better come along."

She walked off too, as Espio turned to face Amy. "Amy, are you okay to join us?"

The pink hedgehog, who was now finished with her ice cream, nodded her head. "Y-Yeah… I'm okay… Thank you for all being patient with me…"

I watched as Amy rubbed her eyes, walking out of the dining hall as everyone else, myself included, followed behind.

* * *

As we all entered the bathhouse, Vector stood by the locker where Ditz formerly once was, arms folded.

"Quite frankly, I said it yesterday, and I'm gonna say it again: Ditz still is missin', we got no leads, and honestly? This game is startin' to get old. There's ways to gettin' yeh all to talk."

"Honestly, Vector…" Blaze said. "You seem far too suspicious of us. After all, what could we gain from Ditz while it does its search?"

"That's what I'm not sure 'bout. But that's how I'm gonna make SOMEONE talk… Tell me, Tikal. Did yeh see Ditz?"

The echidna, who was surprised at the sudden question, jumped. "Oh no, I-"

"Of course ya didn't. Big, whaddya 'bout yeh?"

"What are you doing? I didn't answer?"

"I'm not talkin' to yeh. Big, answer the question."

"I uh…" he said before another interruption from Vector.

"Espio?"

"I have-"

"Charmy?"

"Vector, what on earth are you doing?!"

"Makin' sure one of yeh talks by the end of this. Someone's gonna fess up, otherwise…"

Vector pulled open his jacket to reveal a box of thumbtacks. "…each day, one of these is gonna be stabbed into ALL of us until someone fesses up."

"Whoa whoa WHOA dude!" Silver said, covering his face. "I wanna find Ditz as much as you but don't you think this is going too far?!"

"Nah, not when whoever took Ditz is really the one who's goin' 'too far'. Quite frankly, there's hundreds of ways I can get yeh all to talk. But if this is the game we're gonna play, then so be it. Ditz was meant to be our way out, our way to help us in our situation. And if ya wanna play god with our situation, so be it. I'll play god too."

"I refuse to participate in such a thing!"

"Me too! That just brings us more pain!" Tikal argued back.

"Is it painful?" Vector asked. "Yes. But am I doin' this fer a reason? Also yes. Unless whoever took Ditz wants to speak up, then once we're done here, we're ALL gonna do this."

He began to walk across the room, looking at all of us. "And yeh know, we could also examine yer rooms too. That is, unless someone wants to speak up or be against the idea of doin' such a thing."

"Vector, you're starting to sound really crazy," I said. The crocodile looked at me.

"Look, I'm sorry if I'm making yeh all go through this, but… this is how things have to be."

"And why?" Wave said. "You aren't our boss. Hell, for all we know, you likely have Ditz in your room right now."

"When I told Ditz to yell if I brought it back to mah room?"

"What?!"

"I figured some things would happen to Ditz, so I programmed some responses to it, like the one Jet and Fleetway had. However, I also theorized someone else could use it, and should they accuse me, I told Ditz to yell if it finds itself in front of mah door."

"You… damn you… did you have THAT much protection?"

"Yeh seem to doubt what kinda person I am, Wave. Well, is this all? Am I just gonna assume no one's gonna speak up about this?"

We all looked at each other and shook our heads. Vector sighed.

"Typical, I shouldda figured. Getting people to talk 'bout this stuff is beyond impossible. Well, yeh know the drill. Take yer arms out. None of yeh are leavin' without doin' this."

"C'mon dude, do we really have to?" Silver asked.

"I agree, I don't wish to partake in this," Blaze added.

"It's gonna hurt!" Amy whined.

"Well, I'm sorry, but it has to be done. Dun worry, I ain't gonna stab yeh all with the same thumbtack. That's just askin' fer yeh to get diseased," Vector said as he got the first thumbtack, pulled up his sleeve, and stabbed it through his arm and pulled the tack out. I could see a small stream of blood from where he stabbed his arm as he went to person to person, throwing out each tack after use. I bit my tongue and closed my eyes, not wanting to do this. Sure enough, once he got to me, I yelped loudly as Vector stabbed one of the thumbtacks through my arm and took it out. It reminded me about how I not only hated getting needles but HATED getting my blood drawn. The super small needle always made me cringe and even cry too.

I was able to stop the bleeding by pressing my finger on the wound, but I watched as my glove got a little blood. There was something I needed to wash off tomorrow, or at least, until I can find a bandage…

"There we go," Vector said as he stabbed Big, the last person. "Now, until someone fesses up, this won't be the last interrogation. Consider this yer warnin'. Anyway, I think it might be getting' late. We should turn in fer now."

As Vector walked off, Blaze sighed in disgust. "Typical. He walks off almost as if he thinks we should be okay with this. That man is quite egotistical, no?"

"Not just egotistical, but he actually thinks this'll work," Wave added.

Espio looked at the two. "Unfortunately, it seems this is to be our fate now. Without Ditz, well… where do we go from here?"

"Fair enough, but does he have to stab our freaking arms?!" Silver exclaimed.

"Yeah!... It hurt really bad!..." Big added.

"I just hope we can find Ditz soon enough… I don't think I can take another day of this…" Amy said.

"I'm still holding onto hope that we can find it," Tikal added. "But… I can't deny that this is painful."

I had nothing else to add, because everyone else took the words out of my mouth.

Vector… I do hope you know what you're doing.

* * *

As I returned to my room that night, all that I had replaying in my mind was our interrogation and my dream for earlier that day.

"I guess Vector learned that desperate times call for desperate measures," I said to myself, whispering so Egg Robo couldn't hear me.

With nothing else left to ponder, I hoped that somewhere, somehow, we can finally get closure on Ditz. If I had to take yet another day of pain…

No, I'm sure Ditz CAN be found. That is… unless whoever took-

I shook my head. _"Damn it, Charmy! Think for once!"_ I thought to myself. Now I just found myself getting upset. Turning to my side, I crossed my arms and waited for myself to slowly fall asleep, wondering why I keep getting into these situations…

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"You know, what is it with SEGA and introducing so many characters, and not using all of them? You wanna build a world, and you have all of these people to make the world seem believable and big. But oh no, some big bad critic doesn't like that, so you bow down to them and continue to build your world around five characters that everyone already knows about sans the kitchen sink, just so you appease that minority. I say to that… cowardice! Until I get my own Egg Robo game, I'm gonna hold SEGA accountable for doing stuff like this!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	27. Chapter 4 (Daily Life 2)

**(AN: I know, I didn't forget about this story! I came back from New York two weeks ago and trying to get back to doing the same ol' schedule is a little harder when you got a little too used to walking everywhere and not being online until like after 9 PM.**

 **I did have a good time, and I'm happy to continue writing this story, especially since our new motive is revealed! Hoping you'll enjoy as usual!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo sat by himself at a ramen-ya just down the street from Green Hills after a tiresome day of dealing with rowdy students and someone taking his bag of chips earlier that day during lunch. He sighed, allowing the hot noodles to warm up his body while the cook washed some dishes in he corner._

 _"Love the new udon recipe, sir," he said. "The addition of meat and a second egg? Quality."_

 _He grabbed one of the pieces of tofu with his chopsticks, placing it in his mouth. "Y'know, I once heard a story that beef udon was invented after someone accidently used beef broth instead of water for their recipe. It sounds a bit iffy to me, but I guess it couldda happened if the chef used something like… I dunno, water that's had beef soaked in it for days or something like that. But you see… I think what that chef learned was that you learn new things by making mistakes. When you come right down to it, everything is built on whatever happened last going wrong. But those damn students of mine… they're all obsessed with success. They were told they since day 1 that they were gonna be the best heroes, and as a result, don't realize that heroes aren't made in one day. And, if they don't make it, they have to cry about it. In this era of participation trophies, no one remembers the values of failure… or despair."_

 _Egg Robo slid a few bills to pay for his meal while the cook looked at him._

 _"Neat story. Now get out, I'm closing shop," he said._

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents:**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Livin' in Desparadise**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 2**

* * *

I wasn't sure how, but I overslept through the morning announcement. When I woke up and arrived at the dining hall, the clock on the wall said, '8:42 AM'.

At least, when I arrived at the dining hall, I wanted things to be normal and calm for a morning where I got to sleep in. But just as I was about to go get some breakfast, I was pulled into the kitchen by a sudden hand. Yelping, the mystery person who covered my mouth shushed me all while I tried to get out of their grasp.

"Charmy, stop wiggling!" I heard Silver say. I turned my head to see a panicked look on his face. I was able to wiggle my hand out of his grasp and took his hand off of my mouth.

"Stop wiggling?! Look at what you're doing right now!"

"Shhh!"

"Why in the heck are you wanting me to be quiet anyway?!"

"It's Rosie!"

"Wait, Rosie?"

"Yeah. Ever since Sonic died, she said that she needs a new hedgehog to be her darling. Since I'm the only one left, she now sees me as her new Sonic!"

"But… you're NOT Sonic."

"That's what I said! But no! Just because I'm a hedgehog and vaguely look like Sonic, that means we're like, the same person but that's not even true! I'm here hiding from her, and I need your help! What should I do?!"

"Well, just blow her off. You aren't Sonic, and you can't replace him. Rosie shouldn't really move on fast."

"That's ALSO what I said, but she doesn't wanna listen! Argh, why did I have to attract the crazed killer? I'm SOOO SCREWED!"

Sure enough, as Silver let me go to put his hands on his head, I heard a pair of hard footsteps coming closer to the kitchen. I watched as Rosie grasped onto the kitchen door's casing, licking her mouth as she laughed.

"OH THERE YOU ARE, MY DARLING SHIRUBA!" she yelled with hunger in her eyes.

"D-Darling Shiruba?!" I questioned. "Wasn't that Sonic's old name?"

"Oh, hey there Chimcharm! Don't get in my way now! I think my time as a widow is over! And as a result, I think my Darling Shiruba here needs to be my new boyfriend!"

"And… why does he?"

"Ugh! Are you THAT stupid, Chimcharm?! I made it my goal for my Darling Sonikku to be mine, but that dream died when he did! So now, I need to find a new boyfriend, and I think Silver is probably the most handsome one!"

"Geez, that sounds a little discriminatory. Don't you look at the others?"

"I don't! Now, DON'T get in my way, Chimcharm! Otherwise, I'm gonna bash your skull in!"

"Oh heeeeeck no!" Silver put his hands over his head. "I'm out!"

He ran out of the room as Rosie gasped. "Oh, no you don't! We were supposed to wait until we're on the beach and we can run along it! GET BACK HEEEEREEE!"

Rosie took out her hammer and began to follow the silver hedgehog, leaving me behind.

"Ugh…" I said, rubbing my face. "I think I already want to go back to bed."

Despite my protesting, I was able to muster up whatever feelings I had and prepared a small breakfast and returned to the dining hall, eating my breakfast while watching Rosie chase after Silver for my brief amusement. After finishing, washing up, and watching for another minute, I left the dining hall only to come across Vector.

"Oh, morning Vector," I said.

"I noticed yeh were a little late to wake up this mornin'," he said. "I'm just hopin' nothin's wrong… is it?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

Vector said nothing, but I knew he was probably suspicious of me like he was with everyone else about Ditz.

"I see… well, that's what I mainly wanted to know. Glad nothin' bad happened to yeh."

"Yeah…"

I stood there awkwardly, coughing as I wondered where to take our conversation from here. It was there that I saw Blaze walking with Big, who walked over to us.

"Ah, Charmy, good morning. I'm hoping you're feeling well," she said.

"Yeah… Mr. Vector the Crocodile was worried about you…" Big added. "I'm happy to see nothing happened…"

"O-Oh, of course. Say, why are you two together?" I asked.

"Ah, that. I went to examine that door in the music room that Vector was talking about," Blaze replied. "Unfortunately, I couldn't get the damn thing to open, and I soon became thirsty for a milk tea. That's when I ran into Big here, and my thirst shall be quenched thanks to him. Come Big, let's not delay anymore."

The cat looked a little sad, but was soon dragged by the other cat into the dining hall. Just then, before I could say my goodbyes to Vector…

"I keep hearing some kind of yelling," Tikal said as she suddenly appeared from behind the dorms' hallway. "What's- Oh! Charmy! It's so good to see you!"

"Morning, Tikal."

"My goodness, I thought something happened to you. We were all wondering why you weren't at breakfast this morning, but I'm glad to see it was just you oversleeping."

As Tikal walked towards us, she suddenly yelped and almost fell to the ground due to Silver rushing past her.

"OUTTA MY WAY, TIKAL COMING THROUGH!" he said, speeding off into the main hall of the first floor.

"YOU'RE GONNA ACCEPT MY LOVE AND GET SEVEN ACROSS THE ASS IF YOU KEEP THIS UP!" Rosie yelled, holding her hammer tight within her grip. She then stopped to look at us, then at Tikal.

"Are you so dumb that you can't take my advice?! WHAT DID I SAY? MILK GIRL! MILLLLK!" Rosie yelled.

"Look, I don't know what your obsession is with me but frankly, I find it far demeaning! Don't you have Silver to chase?!" Tikal chastised, covering her chest.

"Argh! You BETTER take my advice the next time I see you! Otherwise you're so totally NOT going on my next cover issue of Mobius' Finest Babes!"

"That doesn't even exist!" Tikal yelled as Rosie ran off after Silver. She sighed, looking down on her feet. "I don't get it… why does she obsess over my body like this… it only makes me feel worse about myself."

I wanted to say something but… was it a little too inappropriate to comment about a girl's body while being a guy? Knowing I was gonna regret this, I spoke up.

"Hey, I don't wanna sound like a creep, but you don't have to change your body however you like. Some girls are… er… flat chested or big on the… yeah… but that doesn't mean you have to despair. It's what makes us people."

I was bracing myself for the eventual slap I was gonna get for calling Tikal flat chested. But instead, she looked up at me and smiled.

"Oh, thank you, Charmy. I'm glad there's someone who shares my view about body positivity."

"No problem, right Vec-" I looked to my side to see that Vector was gone. "Vector? Hey, Vector? Where are you?"

"Oh, I just saw him walk away as Rosie left. I think he got bored of the conversation and left. Not like I'm complaining. I'm still a little mad at him for last night."

"The thumbtack thing, right? Well, he's kinda doing this for a reason, y'know. I don't like it either but someone did take… err… it."

"I just don't get it. Why would anyone need Ditz? They're very limited as to what they could do with a laptop-"

"SHH!"

I covered Tikal's mouth, looking at the nearest camera. "Let's just pray Egg Robo didn't hear that,"

The orange echidna took my hand off her mouth. "I'm sorry! I forgot!"

"Eh, no worries. You did say it a little quiet, so maybe he didn't hear. Just… let's be careful for next time."

"Okay…"

Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I could see Wave come out of her room down the hall. We both made eye contact, and then she just… went back into her room. I'm guessing even deep down, she was still in mourning.

* * *

After I finished hanging out with Tikal and taking a shower (since I neglected to so earlier), I was now free to finally… well, do whatever I wanted. I won't lie, I wasn't the type to say, 'I miss school'. But now? I had every perfect reason to say it.

 **Free Time**

Since I knew that the fourth floor is where everyone would be, I decided to head there for the day. When I arrived, I looked at the door to the data center.

"Damn… why'd he have to make that rule?" I said to myself. I got out my PAD and looked at the map on my screen, noticing that next to the Data Center was a room with Egg Robo's face on it. Now that brought out even MORE questions. What was this room? What purpose did it have? And was that room the reason why the data center is locked?

Just then, I heard loud footsteps coming from down the hall. I looked from the corner to see Big walking down the hall to my general direction. Now that I thought about it… despite the fact that Big's survived for so long, I never got the chance to know him well. I figured that this might be my chance, as heavens KNOW what could happen here.

"Hey there, Big!" I said, coming from the corner and waving at him. The cat looked a little startled, but he was able to overcome his minor fright.

"Oh, it's you, Mr. Charmy Bee… good afternoon," he said.

"Same to you! Where you heading?"

"Oh, I was just in a classroom… I wanted to see if they had any books to read…"

"Are you a bit of a reader?"

"I do, but sometimes the really hard words confuse me… And since I don't have a dictionary, I can't look them up…"

"Well, I'm sure we can find a dictionary. Wanna head on over to the library?"

"Sure!... That sounds like fun!..." Big smiled. We headed on over to the library, where we read some books and had some small talk here and there. However, it was nice to finally do something for a change, and I felt like I had gotten closer to Big.

Remembering that I needed to head back to the Zone Store for some more capsules, I looked through my pockets for one to give to Big as a present. He stared at me as I continued to dump my pockets, looking through each capsule until I found a magazine all about fishing.

"Here you are, I think you might like this!" I said, handing the capsule to Big. He opened it up and out popped out the magazine.

"Oh… I never read this…" he said. "Thank you though, Mr. Charmy Bee!..."

I smiled, knowing I was able to make Big happy.

"Say, Big, since you said you never got to read it… how did you learn to fish?"

The large cat looked at me. "Oh… well, I learned how to fish after catching one with my hand… Someone who saw me taught me how to make my own, and I used my own homemade one for a few years… It wasn't until I started breaking records that I was finally able to afford one. It took me about seven years for me to buy my first rod… I had to repair my own so many times…"

"Jeez, that many times?! Did no one lend you any money or like… not even give you one for a Christmas or birthday present?"

"I… I didn't really know my parents… I was just kinda left on my own in the jungle…"

I looked at Big sad. It made me depressed thinking that Big kind of really had no family to go back to, or even had someone who could help him out in life. It felt like all he knew in life was what he was used to; fishing.

"I'm sorry if I made you sad!... It's not too bad… as long as I can fish and I have Froggy… then everything's okay…"

"Oh, don't apologize! I shouldn't have insinuated that you had the same life experience like the rest of us."

"It's okay, Mr. Charmy Bee…"

"Well, to get off topic, why don't you share me some info about fishing?"

"Huh?... You want me to give you some advice?... Well… There's lots of different ways you can fish. You can use nets… use rods, or cages… It's all up to you what you wanna do…. I'm used to rods, but sometimes I like to use nets…"

"Nets sound like fun. I went fishing a few times in the past but I could never catch anything."

"That's the spirit!..."

I smiled, knowing that Big and I were able to find common ground.

* * *

After saying goodbye, I headed down to the dining hall where I saw Amy. Thankfully, Rosie wasn't around to make my life hell, so I had one less thing to worry about.

"Oh, afternoon Charmy!" she said when she saw me. The pink hedgehog crossed her arms. "Man, four floors in and yet still no way to get out. It's a lil' insulting, don't you think?"

"I'll say. What were you planning to do by the way?"

"Oh, on my way to get a bite to eat. Wanna join me? Maybe we can make something?"

"That sounds good!"

And so, Amy and I looked and poked around the kitchen for something to make for dinner until we decided to make some rice and curry that we found in the pantry.

"I'm more of an ice cream person," Amy said. "But rice and curry are so good… Mom always used to pack some with my lunch each day and it was so good to eat. She thankfully taught me how to cook, so lemme take over for a minute. Don't worry though, we can talk once I get the rice and curry on the stove!"

As Amy washed the rice and prepared the curry in the microwave (it was one of those store-bought packets of curry), she turned to face me.

"So, what did you wanna talk about?"

"Well," I began. "I think for all the time I got to know you, I don't think I really got the chance to know… well, you. And usually, I find whenever I'm trying to know someone better, they end up dying a few days later."

"Agh! Don't tell me you cursed me!"

"I don't have some kinda curse!... at least, I don't THINK I do. Look, regardless… Why don't you tell me about… about shopping! How did you get into it?"

Amy however, just looked at me sheepishly. "…Charmy, I know you wanna ask about Rosie."

"I mean…. I didn't… I… okay, maybe I KINDA did…"

"Look, I get that you wanna know everything but… ask her… when she's around. My life is easier pretending she doesn't exist…"

She then suddenly smiled. "Eh but forget about it. I'll tell you all about shopping! So uh… the way I got into it was kinda embarrassing," Amy put her hand behind her head and softly laughed. "When I was three, I stole this necklace from a store that didn't have a price tag on it. When my mom saw it, she was absolutely horrified and drove back to the store to make me take it back and to apologize. I remember I was crying the whole time, but from then on, I had… a sudden fascination with any store really. When we started learning money counting, my teachers said that while I struggled with math, money counting was something that I mastered like it was nothing. And whenever my mom would tell me to read at home, I would just start reading the coupon book. It always fascinated me, and I even remember saving enough money just as preliminary year was over to buy an ice cream from the local Meh Burger. Who knew that back then, 10 rings was so much money to my little self."

"That's… a rather huge backstory. So since then, you became obsessed with shopping and finance?"

"If I told you I started watching shopping network channels on the TV, would you believe me?"

"I… okay I kinda would."

"My mom thought it was a little weird for a girl my age to be so obsessed with shopping. She thought it wasn't going to be until my preteen years that I would go to like the mall every week. But no, ever since I was a little tot, I just loved the store. Maybe I could go more into the-"

She suddenly stopped when she looked at the stove. "AIEEE! The rice dried up! Damn, damn damn damn! Please don't be burnt," Amy ran over to the sink to grab a spoon. "Please, please, please, please…"

As Amy poked around the rice with the spoon, she sighed with a breath of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. It's a little burnt, but not too bad. Here, Charmy! Come take a bite!"

The pink hedgehog got the container filled with curry out of the microwave and got out a plate, placing rice on the plate and dumping the curry over. She then handed me the plate.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I do kinda wish it was real curry…"

"Eh, fair enough. But real curry involves so many ingredients, I couldn't be bothered. Maybe later I can make some of my homemade curry!"

Not wanting to insult her cooking, I took the spoon Amy handed me and dug in. I found that despite the curry being a little bland (after all, what did I expect?), the rice tasted good. It wasn't too salty or too oily, which was a problem I had sometimes making rice and part of the reason my parents bought a rice cooker.

"The rice is real good! You said your mom made this recipe, right?" I said.

"Yup, sure did! I always said that mom should open a restaurant, but she would be all like, 'Amy, you just want to get more money for that shopping habit of yours!'. Like, as if she doesn't realize how good her food is! And besides, I make my own income!"

"What do you even do to make your own money? People theorize about what you do."

"Yeah, and all of them are wrong, and I'm not gonna reveal my trade secret. You know girls are secretive, Charmy! Now finish your curry!"

Shocked by her sudden response, I nodded quickly. "Yes, ma'am."

Finishing my meal, I handed the plate back to Amy, who put it in the sink.

"Aren't you gonna wash it?" I asked.

"Egg Robo keeps us here like slaves, so he can just do it himself for once!"

I almost expected him to pop up to tell us off, but surprisingly, no response from that comment.

Regardless, I felt that over the past couple of minutes, I really got to know Amy better. Knowing that it was time for gift giving, I dug around my pockets until I could find something I knew she'd like. I know she wouldn't appreciate something cheap looking, so I went with a heart locket.

"I give a gift to everyone I get to know better, here you are!" I said, handing her the capsule for the locket. She opened it and gasped.

"Oh, Charmy, this is so beautiful! Thank you so much!" Amy looked at her reflection on the metal counter and put the locket on. "I would kiss you but… my heart is still devoted to my Darling Sonic… I hope you giving me the locket wasn't you confessing to me…"

"Oh, no it wasn't!"

"Aw, I understand. Still, thank you. You're such a sweetheart!"

She gave me a hug, and I was happy to make her pleased in spite of her mourning yesterday.

* * *

With not much to do for the rest of the day, I returned back to my room for a quick nap. When I woke up…

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

My heart sank when I woke up and heard that noise. I looked up at the monitor and saw Egg Robo appear on it.

 _"Hey, I know everything's happy go lucky time around here. That's fine and dandy, but here's the thing… things sometimes get a little too sweet for me. Like, it's like a piece of cake that has a buttload of sugar in it. You might be thinking: what does this message have to do with cake? Ho ho ho… well, come to the gym and find out!"_

As the monitor turned off, I just stared at it. Going to the gym? I knew what this had to have been. He didn't like that we were being friendly and nice again… no, I think he could smell our determination. He WANTED to give us another motive. He WANTED to see another murder.

Sure enough, I wasn't the only one to think that. When I left my room, I saw everyone crowded near the entrance of the bathhouse, circling around someone. Buzzing closer to the ground, I could see that Tikal was on the floor, hyperventilating while clutching her prayer beads. Her eyes were wide and her entire body was shaking.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Egg Robo's message," Wave replied. "Pacifist girl definitely can't handle it."

"Should we just… leave her here?" Silver asked.

"I say we should. Egg Robo expects us all in the library," Blaze added.

"I just… I j-just I just I just…" Tikal said, breathing in between every word. "I just don't want another… mur-murder…"

"Tikal, I know you are afraid. I know that after three murders, you are unconvinced that a fourth one cannot happen. However, we must overcome our fears. However foolish Egg Robo's next motive is, it won't be enough to stop us. Everyone here is smart enough to not take Egg Robo's bait."

Wave glared at Espio, almost like she was about to tell the chameleon off for what he said.

"Y-you're… you're right…" Tikal said as Vector held out his hand. She grabbed it and slowly got up from the floor. "I shouldn't… I shouldn't be so uptight about this… I should… just let it happen… Just realize another murder is-"

"Pacifist girl, you're going on about it again," Wave said. Tikal sighed.

"Why…"

Wave turned around and started to walk off for a bit before stopping in place. "…trust me, I wanna know the same thing."

She left the main hall as everyone else followed behind, leaving Tikal behind. I buzzed up behind her, where she looked up to see me.

"Oh Charmy… I know you're someone who has more strength than me. Please… if you can, try to make sure another murder won't happen. We've lost so many people now, I don't want that number to increase."

"I'll… I'll try."

Tikal nodded as she walked off, leaving me in the main hall. Knowing that I couldn't avoid fate, I headed off to the gym, where I could feel the shadows on the wall following me. I even felt like they were talking to me, but I refused to listen. I refused to give into what they had to say to me.

I refuse to become Egg Robo's guinea pig.

* * *

When I arrived in the gym, what I saw… was something I wasn't expecting. Unlike before, where we had to wait for Egg Robo to present our new motive, instead the robot was already in the room by a large object covered in a huge white sheet. When he noticed me, he became angry.

"Argh, there you are, Charmy!" Egg Robo said. "Geez, we've been waiting for you for like, four minutes! FOUR! Can you imagine a number even higher than that-"

"Look, just… shut up, okay?!" I retorted, not even having the patience to deal with him.

"Uh…. WHO are you telling to shut up?! Are you telling ME to shut up?! Why, I outta get my sandals out and throw them right at you!"

"Get on with it. We already know what this is going to be. Another piss poor motive meant to cause us to kill," Wave snarled. "You seem to not enjoy the amount of bloodshed that's been shed here… could you really be that bloodthirsty?"

"Do I enjoy death or do I enjoy the actual taste of blood? That's the question you need to figure out Wave! I will say though, it's packed with plasma!"

"Are ya gonna get on with it?" Vector asked.

"Eugh, fine! Okay guys, so here's what I've been thinking. Last murder was really good, huh?"

I could see Wave glare at Egg Robo.

"You know, a murder based on pure selfishness and a metaphorical concept like money. So that's why I decided to… rework my next motive into something a little better. Something that's… like the money motive, only except, I think ALL of you might be a little interested in! And with that, I now reveal to you your next motive! This little doogie of a device that I've been developing in secret…"

Egg Robo waddled over to the sheet and pulled it down, revealing the contents hidden. When the sheet finally fell down to the floor and we got a look at what the device was in question…

I froze.

The device seemed to be some kind of chair you'd find at the dentist's office, and above it were a large amount of drills, medical devices, mirrors, lights, and even some kind of device that looked like a mini chemotherapy machine on a metal arm.

"What… is that?!" I said, looking confused.

"I'm glad to see you're all curious! This… is the Mobian Recreation Device!"

"Recreation… device?" Blaze asked.

"Yup! One step into this thing and you can change ANYTHING! Why do you think everything's here?"

"I'm confused about this thing…" Big said.

"Confused? It's not that hard!... oh fine, I guess I'll explain it! The Mobian Recreation Device is meant to change the features that a person has, whether it be emotional, mental, physical, you get the idea! For example, do you work out everyday and yet still can't get big muscles to attract the babes or hunks? Do you think you're too shy and want to become the center of attention? Do you wanna forget that horrific experience in kindergarten where your bully put a caterpillar in your shoes during recess, causing you to become afraid of caterpillers? Do you… even maybe wanna get a new body part or lose one? Maybe replace your foot for a nose? Well, all of this and many more can be achieved thanks to the Mobian Recreation Device!"

Wave scoffed. "Oh, this is hysterical. This is merely just a replica of the last motive, only involving the change of one's physical self rather than money. There's nothing here worth killing about."

"Exactly," Vector added. "The only person who'd kill for this motive is someone who did it our of pure selfishness. Jet killed because he had some semblance of a conscience when he realized the scope of what he done. But this…"

"Are you sure about that, Mr. Crocodile and Ms. Swallow?" Egg Robo asked. "I think this is a great motive out there. I mean, getting to change ANYTHING about yourself. Face it: you all have something you don't like. If you don't kill, then I assume that even despite these flaws, you still accept yourself. However, if you DIDN'T…"

I looked away from Egg Robo and retreated to my thoughts. I realized what this motive truly meant: acceptance of one's self. By now, Egg Robo had gotten rid of people by playing with their fears of the ones they loved being hurt, having their darkest secrets exposed, and even… seeing if people's want for money overshadows any character they have. But why acceptance of one's self? What was behind that sentiment that Egg Robo was after?"

But at the same time, changing something by killing someone is an extremely selfish act. Would anyone here have something they'd wanna change THAT bad?

Sure enough, my question was answered when I saw Silver staring at Amy with a look of fear on his face.

"Hm, you all keep saying, 'Oh, it's not gonna happen! It's not gonna happen!'. Well, we'll see if that's the case when it does happen. If it doesn't, well I'm glad you all accept yourself but then that means all the time I spent making this thing was for naught! Like, imagine me having to spend MONEY on this thing! Don't you all feel sympathy?"

We all said nothing. Egg Robo sniffed.

"Fine, you all suck anyway!"

The robot disappeared as Silver immodestly opened his mouth.

"Okay Amy, are you SURE you don't wanna use it?"

Amy gasped in shock and anger. "Silver, how DARE you?!

"I'm just saying! Maybe you wanna use the device to get rid of Rosie!"

"I may not be a fan of Rosie, but I would NEVER commit murder!"

"You never know!"

"Maybe we outta put you in that device to make you smart for once!"

"I am smart! Why do you think I'm saying to quarantine you!"

"To q-quarentine me?!"

"Look, that's enough yeh two," Vector said. "Look, I know this motive seems a little… odd. But as we know, Egg Robo doesn't keep promises. Don't assume that this thing works."

"You bring up a very good point," Espio added. "He hasn't tested it himself, so how are we to assume this will work on us?"

"But what I want to know is… who would kill for something like changing yourself?" Tikal asked. We all looked around.

"I can tell we're gettin' suspicious about this. Look, why dun we just call this a day and worry 'bout this tomorrow. It's gettin' late, and frankly… even another murder ain't on mah palette right now."

Vector left the room, leaving us behind.

"Still as suspicious as ever…" Wave said, arms folded. "He seems certain that the device doesn't work. I wonder if he plans on using it himself?"

"You don't even plan to trust him ever, do you?" I asked.

"Considering that he's just as responsible for what happened… last time, I guess I'm not surprised."

It seemed like even despite everything, she still holds a little bit of blame towards Vector and I in terms of what happened to Jet. Regardless, I couldn't do anything about it. It was her way of coping, even if it was a little dangerous.

* * *

When we all returned to our rooms, I didn't bother to turn off the light and turn in for the night. I just lay on my bed, thinking about the motive.

A way to change anything about yourself…

I think secretly, we all wanted that motive. There were plenty of things we wish we could change about ourselves. I mean, I've been bullied for factors I couldn't change, and I've seen people bully others for factors they couldn't change either. So why was this time different? Were we finally given what we needed? That did make sense.

But at the same time… after a third time, you think we'd all know the last thing we'd want to suffer through is a painful execution. I think after watching someone being shredded alive, I had no chance in hell that I'd commit murder.

But what about the others? It would make sense why Amy would use it… but what about the rest of my friends? What if secretly, they had something they wanted to change?

For a few good hours, I didn't bother going to bed. I simply stayed up, debating the situation at hand…

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"I'll be kinda honest, when you've been doing killing games for as long as I have, you kinda become a bit estranged from your family. My parents are ashamed about what I do, thinking a young Egg like me shouldn't just be punishing others. It… hurts a lot more than you think. Everyone tells you parents are always gonna be supportive about what you do in your future, and yet mine never were. It always did make me jealous but buying my way to get my parent's approval works just as well. Yeah, you heard me. This job brings me money, and I was a nice enough son to pay off their debt. Ever since I got them that new TV, they haven't complained about my job as much as they used to!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	28. Chapter 4 (Daily Life 3 & 4)

**(AN: And so with regular updates to Despair Hill Zone, welcome back! Stakes get higher as this original chapter continues, and come the next couple of updates, things will get even jucier. What's gonna happen? Read and find out! It's the only way after all!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo sat on a seesaw, sitting still as another Egg Robo was on the other side of the seesaw. It went up and down, neither robot saying anything or changing their expressions. It wasn't until Egg Robo looked straight ahead did he finally speak up._

 _"Down and up… down and up…" he said. "When you're on a seesaw, you don't ever think about how the physics of this thing works. You just focus on how fun it is. But what's fun about going up and down? You might feel like you're going high into the sky, then the next thing you know, you fall to the ground and you're back onto the planes of reality."_

 _Egg Robo continued to look at his doppelganger. "It's a little sad, isn't it? How no matter what you do to fly, you must come back down. You might be happy one day, then something ruins it and sure enough, you're back to being depressed. You might lose a partner, read something that's both depressing and political, get into an argument with your family or friends or strangers online. When stuff like that ruins your mood, you're not soaring high. You're on the ground with the rest of us, waiting your turn to go high…"_

 _The two stopped using the seesaw, allowing it to balance out in a straight line. "…but it never comes."_

* * *

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

Our usual morning bell, and usual morning routine. Unfortunately, I ran out of soap that morning, so I had to bookend it to the bathhouse for some soap. If Egg Robo complained, it wasn't like I cared. Maybe supply some more soap next time, jerk…

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents:**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Livin' in Desparadise**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 3**

* * *

When I arrived at breakfast that morning, I saw that everyone except for Wave was already at the table. I took note that everyone was having a serious discussion, as they all kept their heads and voices low. Buzzing closer to them, Silver noticed me.

"Psst, Charmy! Over here!"

"What on earth is going on?" I asked.

"We're having a serious talk! Now keep your voice down! No, in fact, c'mere!"

Landing on the table and laying across it, I could see everyone's faces from where I was.

"Okay, seriously, what's going on?" I whispered.

"We're talkin' bout that motive. Unfortunately, we dun want Egg Robo to hear," Vector replied.

"Why?"

"I believe that something about this motive may link to Ditz," Espio added.

"But I thought he didn't know about Ditz!"

"I thought so too, but apparently, Vector and Espio think that Egg Robo somehow must know as whoever abducted Ditz would have been exposed due to the cameras," Tikal said.

"What does the motive have to do with that then?"

"Likely baiting the person who took Ditz. If they took Ditz, then they'd be likely to murder," Blaze added.

"Exactly. Because there's still the case of, what did the abductor do with Ditz? Surely they're not keeping it hostage," Amy said.

"It does seem weird though…" Big added. "Why would you kill to change yourself?... Can't you just love yourself?..."

"He brings up a good point," Espio said. "Why would you kill, have yourself changed, then go out into the real world where no one will recognize you?"

"Yeah, he's right!" Silver said. "And because of that, no one's gonna kill!"

Amy glared at Silver. "Funny, weren't you saying how I was gonna kill because I wanted to get rid of Rosie?"

"Aw, c'mon man! Haven't you let it go?"

"Let it go? Let it GO?! For Gaia's sake Silver, you told me I was gonna be the next blackened! Can you stop with your generalizations?"

"I don't like how you're still taking me seriously!"

"And I don't like being accused of being a murderer!"

"Will you two quiet down?!" Vector retorted. "Look, no one's murderin' no one. The motive is dumb, and right now, our focus is tryin' to find Ditz. Now look, I know yesterday I forgot to do our daily interrogation but trust me when I say that I won't forget tonight."

"Okay, okay, geez! I'm sorry!" Silver said. "One thing though… can we stop doing this whispering stuff? It's hurting my neck."

"Deal with it."

"What do you suppose we do first?" Espio asked, ignoring Silver.

"I'd recommend that each of us go to one floor. From there, we try to find Ditz. If we dun find anything, then startin' tomorrow, we're gonna start searchin' all the rooms."

"Just so you know, I have NOTHING in my room!" Silver said.

"Well, that just makes yeh more suspicious, doesn't it?"

"Yeaaaaah… wait, what?"

* * *

Returning to my room later, I wanted to join Vector in his search for Ditz, but tragically, he said he'd do it himself. Thus, I was stuck to my room, cleaning and making sure that tomorrow, no one will have any reason to suspect me. While I was throwing out some trash, I couldn't help but take notice of the lint roller inside my nightstand. I looked at it with sadness in my eyes, sitting on my bed.

It felt like it was so long ago that Cream was still alive. No, not even just Cream, but Tails too. To think that this was the very same roller he used to clean up his fur. Had the days been such a blur that it felt like forever since that happened?

"Cream…" I said, having flashbacks to my dream from two days ago. "If you saw me now, what would you think?"

It was dumb to even act like I'd get a reply, or dumb to even think Cream would reply with anything other than, 'That you're a massive dork'. It just felt… awkward thinking about her. At the same time, I cared for her a lot but… I couldn't forget that she did try to betray me.

Why was I even thinking about this? Cream was dead, and no amount of overthinking was gonna change that. It wasn't like she was going to appear as my personal help fairy.

With that pessimistic way of thinking, I left my room and wondered what I should do. Vector said we should all try to find Ditz on the other floors, which was a great start, as my hands yearned not to spend another night having a thumbtack stabbed into them.

 **FREE TIME**

As I headed to the second floor, I figured I probably could start on trying to find Ditz. It's not like I had much to do here anyway…

Stepping inside the locker room, I felt… weirdly nostalgic. It seemed like so long ago that we were trying to solve Knuckles' murder. In fact, the dried blood that Shadow had hastily cleaned up was still on there. I frowned seeing that, wondering where time had gone if it had been that long since his murder.

"I wonder what it's like to die…" I muttered to myself. "Is everyone who's dead here just cold and in a black space?"

"It would be terrible, I'd imagine."

I yelped as I heard a voice from behind me. Turning around quickly, I saw Blaze hovered above me.

"Ah, good afternoon Charmy," she said, smiling.

"Wha- How long were you standing behind me?!" I retorted.

"Enough to notice you looking at a wall."

"Where did you come from?"

"I just came from the girl's locker room. I thought I'd find Di-"

She stopped herself when almost said Ditz's name, looking at the camera in the corner. "… I thought I'd find IT in there but… tragically, nothing. It seems like we are going to have to go through another round of thumbtacks."

"You say that like you're not too concerned about it."

"Oh, I've had more painful experiences. A thumbtack is just a baby's way to hurt someone."

Seeing as how I never really got the chance to talk with Blaze and considering just… how much is shrouded in mystery when it came to her, I thought maybe I could use this chance to hang out with her.

"Hey, do you want to try and find it together?" I asked.

"Well, I don't suppose you'd know where it is, but if you insist. I want you to first check the boy's locker room," she replied.

"Wait, couldn't you go in with me if you got a boy's PAD from the repository? Egg Robo said that was okay."

"Oh, I know it is. It's just I imagine the boy's locker room is filled with so much testosterone and filthy imagery that my delicate little self couldn't handle it. Be a dear so we can check the showers and then the pool, okay?"

Okay, _mom_.

After looking through the boy's locker room and finding nothing, then after looking through the shower room and the pool, we didn't find any sign of Ditz. However, we did get to talking a little bit, and it even seemed like Blaze was enjoying herself.

"Oh, what a fool…" she said, telling me about a time she had to gamble a good chunk of her money to pay for her mother's surgery, and winning through luck.

"We could call you an Ultimate Gambler!" I said. Blaze shook her head.

"Oh no, I couldn't. I think I'd have to start dressing in black dresses if I wanted to be called that, and black isn't my style at all."

I didn't know what she meant by that, but I did feel like in the time that we were supposed to be finding Ditz, we had a good time. No wonder she never did anything whenever she'd be paired up with someone else.

Since it was my signature style, I decided on something to give Blaze. I wasn't particularly sure on what pyrokinetics liked, so I decided to play it safe and give her something casual. I noticed I had a flower in a vial, and I figure she might like it.

Giving it to her, she looked confused.

"Are you trying to signal something?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, you only give flowers to the ones you love."

"I-I'm not saying I love you! I just thought you'd like it-"

"Oh, but I do kid around with you. I would have preferred something like a large bouquet but… this will do just as fine. Thank you."

I feel like she didn't really LOVE the present, but better that she at least like it than outright hate it?

"Hey Blaze, I wanna ask…" I began. "There's still so much we don't know about you."

"I much prefer to keep it that way. My life before coming here isn't all that important anyway."

"Well, I'm not saying to reveal your life story, but I feel like revealing a bit more about yourself is fine. Like, how did you even get your powers?"

"My powers…" she looked a bit troubled. "Oh fine. You see, where I come from, there's only a very small minority of women in certain families that have pyrokinetic abilities."

"Where are you from anyway?"

"So-" she stopped herself before she could say anything else. I wonder why? "Soleanna."

"Are you embarrassed about living there or something?"

"To a degree, yes. Anyway, certain women are born with the power of pyrokinetic energy. I first displayed it, according to my mother, at the age of 3, when I was teased at school and came home angry. She said I ended up screaming loudly and set fire to one of the curtains in our home. She thankfully was able to put it out, and that's where she learned about my powers."

"Jeez, did she get mad?"

"Of course she did. She was also, however, terrified."

"It's like that one movie I watched about the high schooler with psychic powers."

"I think that's what people think of when they think of my power. It's not, trust me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I've already said enough."

Blaze started to walk off before I could say anything else. I wasn't sure why she wanted to cut off our conversation so quickly, but I imagine there was something about it that she wasn't too fond of talking about. I guess it made sense but… I wish I got the chance to talk to her more.

With that, I left the second floor and decided to head on to the third.

* * *

After spending a good chunk of the day looking around each nook and cranny, every desk, every place with open spaces, there was no avail on the whereabouts of Ditz. I started to head back to the dining hall for lunch before I moved onto the other floors, and perhaps an extra check through all four floors again. As I started to buzz to the dining hall, with not a lot of noise around me, I very much heard a door creaking open. Looking surprised, I was confused about where the noise was coming from and poked my head to the hallway leading to the second-floor dorms and the garbage disposal room. I could see clearly that the door to the warehouse was wide open. Wondering if that was where the noise came from, I buzzed over to it.

When I looked inside however… I saw that the room was pitch black. I felt chills up my spine. What was this doing here? Why were the lights off? And biggest of them all… was this a trap?

Looking to my left and right, I buzzed straight to the kitchen as fast as I could, passing by Tikal, who said 'Hello, Charmy!' and then 'Charmy, why do you have that frying pan?"

Returning back to the pitch black room, I grabbed onto my old 'lucky weapon' and headed inside.

"Hello?..." I said aloud, wondering if this was just my imagination and someone foolishly forgot to close the door. "Is someone in here?"

 _"You are becoming dangerous, bee."_

Huh?...

I didn't know who's voice that was. It didn't sound like ANYONE here…

"Who are you?..."

 _"One you neither care to learn about, nor should you be concerned about."_

"No, answer me. W-Who are you?!" I could feel my hands shake and sweat.

 _"…I have been sent to deliver a message. You and that crocodile have become smarter than we anticipated. This killing game is meant for you to continue staying here forever, not for you to question everything that's going on. Being a skeptic like that only makes you more dangerous."_

"What do you want then?!"

 _"What do I want?... For you to stop being so meddling, if you knew what was good for you. This upcoming few days, I know are going to be eventful. My only question to you is…"_

I couldn't hear anything as my head turned to every angle, trying to find who this strange voice was. Suddenly… I heard someone whisper in my ear.

 _"Are you prepared?"_

I yelled and swung my pan wildly, only to hear the shriek of someone.

"Charmy?!"

My blood ran cold as I heard the voice of someone I knew and felt the pan hit someone. A person seemed to hit the floor and was groaning in pain. I looked around the wall to find a light switch and was able to find one. When I turned it all, all I could see what Tikal on the ground, holding her bloody nose.

"Oh gosh, Tikal!" I said, buzzing over to her.

"Charmy, how could you?!" she replied, breathing as her gloves filled with blood.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! I meant to hit…"

I looked around the room. Whoever that mystery voice person was… I couldn't see them.

"…that voice."

"Wha… ow… ow ow ow! What voice?"

"Someone was talking to me here through the darkness, someone I couldn't see since the lights were off. Still though, I didn't mean to hurt you! You took me off guard!"

"Who did you think was here? No one!"

"B-But I heard him whisper in my ear! That's why I swung!"

"Has it occurred to you maybe it could have been no one?"

"I… they threatened me and Vector… how could it have been no one?"

Tikal sat in silence, realizing I had a point.

"Still though, I feel like total shit for hurting you," I continued. "Let's get you up and go to the infirmary. I feel really bad now…"

"Oh… It's nothing…" she said as I pulled her up from the floor.

"Nothing? I just hit you with a frying pan and made you think I was going to beat you to death with it."

"I've been assaulted during protests before. I've had worse…"

We headed out of the room and to the infirmary. "Jeez, really?"

* * *

After hitting myself on the head for being such an idiot, I was able to get Tikal's nose to stop bleeding. Thankfully, it wasn't broken (at least I hope it wasn't), and it seemed to get better once she threw her head back for a couple of minutes. After leaving with a napkin over her nose, I didn't even feel like I deserved to eat lunch for being a mega-idiot.

"And I was calling myself a huge idiot…" I said to myself.

Regardless… I had to find Vector now. I HAD to tell him not just about what happened, but what the mystery voice said. I didn't know if he knew Vector personally, or only knew of him through the killing game.

And biggest of all… did Egg Robo know about this?

I got out my PAD and tried to figure out where Vector was. Sure enough, he was back in the music room again. Buzzing my way to the fourth floor, I opened the doors to the music room and heard... the sound of a piano.

I could see Vector sitting by the piano like two days ago, playing his heart away to the keys on the instrument. I could definitely see he was invested into it, as he hadn't noticed me. Still though… it was oddly cute to see even someone like him get distracted. As a result, I wanted to have a little bit of fun.

"A key to Mr. Vector, KRR," I said, covering my mouth and pretending like I was speaking through a walkie-talkie. "Your playing, KRR, sounds good, KRR!"

Vector had already been taken off guard by my first sentence, eyes getting wide as he stumbled on his notes. He looked at me with a disapproving look.

"Oh, I guess interruptin' me is funny now?"

"Not as funny as you getting distracted and me scaring the hell out of you!"

"Ugh, fine. Ya caught me," Vector turned in his seat and put his hands on his thighs. "I wasn't explorin'. Well, I WAS…"

"But?"

"Looked throughout the fourth floor, nothin'. No sign of… IT."

"Neither did I find anything. I was looking with Blaze earlier in the locker room and pool on the second floor."

"So why are yeh here?"

I looked around and lowered my head. "It's about what I heard in the warehouse."

"The warehouse?"

"I was on my way to lunch when I heard the door to the warehouse open. When I went there, the room was pitch black and all I could see was the lights behind me. However, from the room, I heard someone from the shadows speak. They said how we were getting like… like, too hasty for being too skeptical."

"Too hasty?"

"Yeah, they seemed to know both of us. And they even said how things are gonna be eventful over the next couple of days!"

Vector examined my face, likely trying to decide what this message meant.

"And, just so I know, what did the voice sound like?" he asked.

"It sounded a bit deep, definitely a guy. Why?" I replied. Vector put his finger in his chin.

"I've been thinkin' 'bout a small theory… Yeh see, I'm startin' to think there's more people here in Green Hills besides us."

"More people?"

"I can't help but shake the feelin' more people are aware as to what's goin' on here besides us. I can't help but feel like… someone else besides Egg Robo is watchin' us."

"What makes you think that?"

"The cameras."

"What about them?"

"Supposedly, there's cameras in every room except the bathhouse area. If we take into consideration EVERY room, that's also bugged mind you, that's quite of lot of rooms Egg Robo must not only look at but listen into. I'm startin' to think that someone else is examinin' everythin' that's goin' on."

"Even watching us right now?"

"Even that."

I looked around, wondering if someone could hear what we were saying. Where was there any kind of microphone? On the camera? Or… could EVERYTHING in this room be bugged?

"So where does that leave us? Who do you think it could be?"

"That's the thing, it's just a theory. It ain't fact. What we should do though… is be on the lookout fer anythin' suspicious. Thanks to yeh lettin' me know about this, that only amps up mah theory more."

"And to be cautious in the future, right?"

"Exactly. And… let's not tell the others about this. I'll tell Espio, but only cause I trust him."

"You're putting a lot of trust into Espio."

"Unlike some of our deceased friends, Espio is someone who lives by a set of rules due to him being a ninja. To disobey those rules would be like subjugatin' him to death."

"So, only Espio will know, right?"

"Yeah. It seems like whoever this mystery person is, they only got beef with yeh and me. But if they think I'm not gonna back down, they're sadly mistaken."

With that, we stopped whispering and looked around, waiting to see if Egg Robo was gonna pop up. I sighed when he didn't.

"Oh boy, thank goodness Egg Robo-"

He then suddenly appeared on the piano.

"Didn't WHAT, Charmy?" he asked.

"Ugh, not you!"

"That he didn't hear 'bout our plans to throw yeh a surprise party," Vector suddenly said. "But now that yeh heard it from me, we can't surprise yeh anymore."

"What? A surprise party… for me? Oh wow! I finally feel like I'm getting the respect around here? But… does that mean that the party is cancelled?" Egg Robo asked.

"Yes. You spoiled the surprise, so what's the purpose of throwin' a surprise party when yeh know 'bout it?"

"This is… kinda depressing… I was gonna come in here and ask what you guys were whispering about. It looked a little suspicious! But to think that I just spoiled my party…"

"There is one question yeh can ask fer me."

"What's that?"

"Charmy came to me, saying that a voice in the warehouse was threatenin' him and me. We dunno who it is, and we figured yeh might now. After all, wouldn't that person had to have been seen by yeh?"

Egg Robo simply looked at Vector, not saying anything. "A voice? Then I'd say Charmy is going senile! Maybe he's already ready for a retirement home!"

"Yeh aren't answerin' the question. Who was that?"

"Gee, I dunno! Maybe actually get the hint next time!"

Egg Robo vanished, almost like he was in a hurry.

"He knows somethin'…" Vector murmured.

"What do we do now?" I turned my head, confused.

"Well, with him not wantin' to cooperate, we just gotta wait and see how the future is gonna hold up. Is that all yeh wanted to ask by the way? I should get back to explorin' a second time but… I got a little distracted."

"Well actually…"

Now that I thought about it, even though I could have left Vector to himself, I never got to really know him outside of investigations and trials. Maybe, since he seems to trust me a lot more now, I can finally get a little bit more information out from him?"

"Now that I'm here, wanna hang out?" I asked.

"Huh? Hang out?"

"Yeah! I never really got the chance to really sit down and like… KNOW who Vector is."

Vector lowered his fedora. "That's the point. I like to keep on the downlow. But… fine, I guess I'll let yeh indulge with mah company."

"Alright, so… play me another piano piece!"

"Another?"

"Yeah! I wanna hear you play another!"

"…well, alright. Since ya really want to…"

And so, I spent the next couple of minutes hearing Vector play on the piano. I wouldn't lie, it was a nice distraction from everything that was going on. When he was finally done, I felt like in the time I had gotten to know him a little better.

"I've been hearin' from the others that yeh've been givin' 'em presents, likely to get them on yer good side," Vector said. "Ya ain't gotta do that, yeh know. Bribin' people ain't good."

"Oh, I'm not bribing them! I think that it helps to get people closer to one another. That's why gift giving is done!"

"Sorry I just… I guess I just ain't really the type to receive gifts."

"That reminds me… you should probably tell me a little about yourself. Not so much like, EVERYTHING. I know you don't wanna say everything. But you could… you could tell me about your detective agency! Chaotix, wasn't it?"

"Oh, yeh heard of it?"

"Not really… truth be told, I heard about it on an online forum about all the Ultimate students. What do you do?"

"Well, it's just yer everyday detective agency. However, we're usually busy since a lot of people want mah services. I'm just a one man team, but I've been considerin' hirin' some people."

"How do you manage so many cases?"

"I ain't called the Ultimate Detective fer no reason. One day, I go 'bout one case, and then do another. The only time I focus on one is if mah client needs it to be done as quick as possible. Generally, it could take me 'bout… give or take, two or three days to solve one case. Especially if I'm splittin' it up over multiple days."

"Wow… that's actually really cool! And what have you done on your cases?"

"Yeh remember that guy who assassinated Frederick Acorn that was all over the news?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that. Apparently, it was caused by some kinda guy with radical beliefs? There was apparently a file on his assassination that Sonic told me about that I didn't remember at first, but now that you bring him up, I remember it being big news. Why?"

"I wasn't the one who found the guy, but I was one of the many people they called fer the investigation. I was the one who deducted how the killer fired the bullet from so far, and also their method of escape. I even was the one who found the killer's journal detailing all the radical stuff he believed in. Mobian purity, an end to open borders, wanting the kingdom to become a superpower and all this kinda bigoted stuff, ugh I felt dirty readin' it. Anyway, that's besides the point. That's just some of the many things I've done."

"Gee… your life sure is interesting… unlike mine."

"Yeh know…"

Vector turned around.

"Yeh seem to downplay yerself quite a lot. However, sometimes I wonder if maybe it's a privilege to lead a life where everyone doesn't have certain expectations of yeh."

He walked off, leaving me behind.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

I was confused. Was he mad at me? I didn't seem to hear it in his voice… Was he sad that he didn't get to be as free as I was?

I got mixed messages from him, but no matter what… I didn't think I was going to get an answer.

* * *

Later that night, when I returned to my room after my time with Vector, a note was slipped into my room as I heard my doorbell ring. Looking up from my bed, I got the note and read its simple contents.

 _"Come to the bathhouse"_

Knowing it was time for round two of our interrogation, I gulped and buzzed my way over to the bathhouse. There, I saw everyone else waiting for me.

"Ah, there yeh are, Charmy," Vector said, arms crossed. "Now, as yeh all know, we haven't found Ditz at all today. So, I think now our interrogation is gonna go a little different this time."

"How much more different?..." Big asked, head turned.

"Simple. If we seemed to have searched everywhere in this zone, and still haven't found a sign of Ditz, then there's still one more place we can check. Our dorms."

"Our… dorms?!" Tikal asked, shocked. "B-But, Vector! They're our own personal rooms!"

"I know they are. But if we're gonna clear anyone's name, we're gonna have to look at yer rooms."

"Isn't that just going to attract Egg Robo's attention?" Blaze asked.

"Exactly. And quite frankly, I still think there's something you're hiding from us, croc," Wave added.

"Think what yeh want to, Wave," Vector replied. "If yeh really don't believe me, then I'll be happy to let yeh all into mah dorm and see fer yerself. I ain't got nothin' to hide. The question is… do the rest of yeh?"

"Can you… at least not judge me for what's in my room?" Silver asked.

"I can't guarantee that. Anyway, let's go," Vector turned around and started to walk off, the rest of us following behind like obedient kindergarteners.

"Do you think we'll finally find it?" Amy whispered.

"All I know is that this is an invasion of privacy…" Blaze said. "I can't believe we're really doing something like this… It's like we're children or something to him…"

We all stopped when Vector stood in front of his door and placed his key into the keyhole, unlocking the door. He came inside, waiting for the rest of us.

"Well? I thought yeh'd wanna see that I'm innocent."

We all walked into the room, where I saw some books on the nightstand, as well as a pair of reading glasses, a notepad, a pencil, and Vector's PAD.

"Look inside every drawer and feel free to check under the bed, remove the sheets, and check the bathrooms."

We all took turns to look and poke around Vector's room, with Silver, Amy, and Blaze opening all the drawers, Big lifting the bed to find nothing, Wave and Tikal undoing the covers, and Espio and I checking the bathrooms. After we waited on the three to finish, it took ten minutes to look through the room and to put everything back. When we were all done, Vector looked at us.

"I think I made a point. Now, we're gonna continue from here. Tikal, if yeh dun mind?"

Tikal jumped when she heard her name. "You're… talking to me?"

"Of course. Yeh sound nervous. Are yeh… hidin' somethin'?"

"Never! I just… don't like to be suspected of stuff I never did… Father always used to blame so much inconsequential stuff happening in his life on me…"

"I understand but just… show us yer room."

Tikal sighed as she led us to her room. After unlocking the door and letting us explore each nook and cranny, we found there was no sign of Ditz. Sure enough, this continued as we looked through my room and then Amy's room. However, just as we left Amy's room and were now ready to check Espio's room…

Egg Robo popped up as we were on our way to his room.

"What are you all doing?..." he asked.

"Uhh…" I said, not even sure what kind of excuse to make.

"Imagine my surprise when, it's almost time for nighttime, and you all are like… checking rooms like you're looking for bedbugs. No! I swear to you that this zone DOESN'T have bedbugs! I know that because anytime bedbugs enter this zone, I have my other Egg Robo bots kill them all with their laser arms! I even have an alert to let me know when they arrive! No… something FISHY is going on here… I can smell it! And it ISN'T an entire fish that's been deep fried! I think you all are hiding something from me... First the cancellation of the surprise party, and now this?"

"We played a game of hide the PAD to help us pass the time, and now that the day is 'bout to end, we're gonna call the game quits since no one found it and fessed up to it."

"Oh, so THAT'S why you got that PAD from the main hall mailbox and left it on your desk?!"

Now that shocked me. I didn't even catch that the PAD wasn't even Vector's. Did he plan this in advance? If so, that was a smart idea…

"So why are you still acting like you haven't found it! Put it back and get ready for nighttime! Or don't! Whatever!"

Egg Robo vanished as I could tell the conflict on Vector's face was present.

"He's suspectin' us. We'll continue this tomorrow. I'd highly advise the rest of yeh who haven't been searched yet… this might be yer last day before yeh get exposed. If I were yeh, I'd do a good job of trying to hide the laptop."

With that, Vector walked off, leaving us behind. Amy sighed.

"All of this feels so nerve-wracking, even if you're not guilty," she said.

"Vector is likely doing this to break down the culprit and make them confess to stealing it. I wouldn't worry about it. It's a clever psychological tactic, but not one strong enough to make me crack if I were the culprit," Blaze replied, smiling.

"Still, isn't it a little concerning how much of an authoritarian leader Vector is acting like?" Wave said, smirking. "Whether he's enjoying this game or more... or doing it for another reason, I think we best be careful of him."

"That's enough, Wave. Vector feels strongly about losing… well, it."

"Oh, I know. I do too. But I'm not taking it as far as he is. Trust me, if I were in charge, things would be smoother if only he didn't get in the way…"

She then looked at me. "But a certain someone else did too…"

Walking off, everyone else began to return to their rooms as Espio turned to face me. "Don't worry about what she says. I'm sure she's not going to come after you."

"Oh, you say that now…" I replied, hand on my arm.

* * *

With that, I returned to my room for the night.

There still was no sign of Ditz, even if we searched through different rooms. Was Ditz THAT well-hidden, or did someone else truly have it? I wasn't sure what to make of today. I was just glad that Vector forgot about the thumbtacks…

As I got into bed, I could feel a pit in my stomach. It'd been a few days… and if there was something I learned about this zone, it was that give or take a few days after we finish a class trial, there was gonna be another murder.

I got out of bed, realizing that this could be my chance to stop one from happening. But as I put my hand on my doorknob, I stopped.

It was silly for me to react like this. I mean, if I went out at this time at night, I'd not only be breaking our no nighttime rule, but also there was the chance that I might become the next victim. And besides, biggest of them all; how was I SURE it's gonna happen this time?

With that, I stopped myself from opening my door and returned to bed, praying that nothing was going to go wrong.

If only I knew how foolish I was…

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"I wanna talk to you today about designs. When you design anything, it naturally doesn't always look right the first time you draw it. You have to keep redesigning it over and over again if you want to get the perfect look. Even if they have that perfect look, sometimes I wonder… if someone could see how their original concept ideas looked like, what would they feel? Would they feel weirded out? Would they be glad or sad that they didn't look the way they were originally going to look? Or would they have vomited all over everything, rendering all sketches worthless? I guess what I'm trying to say is… everyone is built with flaws from the day they were born. It just takes a special amount of people to actually accept it!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

After hearing the morning bells and Egg Robo's message, I made my way to the dining hall to continue our search for Ditz. If the last few rooms didn't have anything… I didn't know what we could do from there…

Sitting down, I could see that everyone was sitting at the table except… for one noticeable absence.

"Where's Big?" I asked.

"I asked the same thing before you came," Espio replied. "Big has always been very cautious about being on time. It's not like him to just vanish like this."

"H-Hey… I don't want us all to get in a panic, but you don't think like… he's dead, right?" Silver asked, nervous. "N-Not that I want him to be dead! It's just, you know!"

"Don't say that, Silver! Nothing's happened to Big, I'm sure he's running late for a reason and we'll pick up our search from there!" Amy replied. Tikal I could see was rubbing her head.

"Tikal? Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm… fine… I think. I don't know… Everything was such a blur last night… and I feel like I was hit by something…" she replied.

"Did you fall out of bed this morning?"

"…no, that's the weird part. I... don't remember it clearly."

"W-Well, since we searched your room, I think it's okay to leave you out of the investigation, right Vector?"

The crocodile however, didn't agree. "Nah. Even if Tikal is in the clear, we'll still need her just in case. Ya gotta always suspect everyone, yeh know."

"Oh, you suspect everyone but yourself?" Wave asked.

"Cause I know mah actions."

Wave glared at Vector and ignored what he said. "Look, whatever the case is, I'm sure the slow cat is fine."

"I do hope that he is," Blaze said. "I think I may need a bit of milk tea with a splash of alcohol. That's the only way I see myself powering through this investigation."

"That is if Egg Robo would let us even drink here…" Vector said. Suddenly, Espio raised his head up.

"Ah, there he is."

We raised our heads to see Big standing by the door of the dining hall. Tikal got up and smiled.

"Good morning, Big! We-"

She stopped when we all noticed what he looked like. Big… looked like a mess. I noticed that his eyes were wide and his fur was ruffled by how much he had been… sweating?

"Big? Are you alright?"

"I…" he replied weakly. "I don't know…"

Big began to walk towards the table, but I could tell something was VERY wrong by the way he walked. He held his stomach as his body shook, sitting slowly on the table.

"Big, what's going on?" Espio asked. Vector looked at him, squinting his eyes.

"I… I'm not sure… I just woke up and… and everything hurts…" the big cat replied. "My… my chest feels tight… and I feel… I feel so sick… My head hurts too…"

"I'll get you a glass of water."

Espio ran to the kitchen as the rest of us got out of our seats and stood by Big, hoping that he was okay. The chameleon came back seconds later, running with a glass of water. He handed it to Big, who attempted to drink it, but hacked it up and soon as he took a sip.

"I… I can't… I can't swallow it!" he complained.

"Big, something happened…" I said. "You couldn't have gotten that sick, could you?"

"Do you want me to get some medicine?" Amy asked.

"Are you sure we should be standing here?" Silver added. "I mean, he's complaining about all of these things, surely this isn't anything like… bad, is it?"

"That's what I'm worried 'bout," Vector replied. "Big, where did yeh wake up?"

"I… I…"

Suddenly, he began to cry. But when tears began to roll down his face. Something else did too…

A green stream of liquid from his right eye.

"I don't kno... kno… know…"

The large cat began to breath heavily as he placed his hand on his chest, and then…

He dropped his glass of water and fell out of his chair, convulsing on the floor.

"What the hell?!" I screamed as everyone took a step back.

"Espio, get the table out of the way!" Vector yelled at the chameleon. The two reptiles got to work pushing the table away as everyone took a step back. Tikal ran over to Big, holding him by his side as he continued to convulse.

"Please, Big… no! Stop! This is scaring me!" Tikal cried.

"I… I don't want to di-die!..." Big cried in between his convulsions.

"Wait, he can talk?" Silver asked. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"More importantly… I think our question should be… what's going on?" Blaze added.

More of the green liquid fell from Big's eyes onto the floor as it seemed like the seizure stopped. Tikal was still crying on the floor, looking at Big as she bit his lip.

"P-Please… please, no!" she cried. "I thought we'd be free from this!..."

"E-Everything… hurts…" Big breathed. "I… I can't… I can't breathe…"

Tikal loomed over Big, stroking his face.

"Big… who… who could have done this to you?..."

She suddenly moved over when Big slumped onto his back, a lazy look in his eyes. Tikal checked his pulse, and her eyes widened.

"His… his pulse is str-strange!" she cried. "I think… I think his heartbeat is irregular!"

"An irregular heartbeat?" Wave scratched her chin. "I see…"

"Who… who did this to me?..." Big asked, looking into Tikal's eyes. He breathed heavily, almost like he was gasping for air with all of his might. "That's right… I… I remember… everything… Green... Green... Hills..."

"Remember? Remember WHAT?! Big, snap out of it! You're confused!" Tikal cried.

"I… I know… Ms…" Big couldn't finish his statement before throwing up on himself, the orange echidna moving out of the way.

"Big… please…"

"…I know… who did this…"

"Who? WHO?!"

Big began to raise one hand up. I could tell how weak it was from not only how it was shaking, but how low it was to begin with.

"It was… Ms… Ti… Kaaaa…..."

Big's hand fell to the ground as he suddenly foamed at the mouth. I could hear what sounded like the last few attempts at breathing but… But what I was seeing right now…

Big had just died in front of us, foaming at the mouth and more of the green liquid pouring out of his eyes.

And he said the one responsible… it was Tikal…

The orange echidna got up, a horrified expression on her face as she covered her mouth.

"Wh… wha… what?..." she squeaked. And within a moment…

 ***Ding dong, ding dong***

The monitor by the kitchen door turned on as we all turned to face it. The zone crest popped up as Egg Robo appeared on the screen.

 _"A body has been discovered!"_ he said. _"Now then... after a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **Livin' in Desparadise**

 **DAILY LIFE**

 **D̶̰̭͉̣̜̗͉̭̊̿Aͣ̽̓̓ͯ̚Ī͚̜͈͕͍̞̬ͥͣͅL̳͉̳͎͓̥ͯ̐ͥ͐̈Y̞͙̠ͥ͂̅ͭ̾̎͑̚̕͢ ̸̸̞̼̬͍̣̲ͩ̈͗̏ͣL̸̐͛ͣ̈́̇͏͔͚Į̸͙͎̹͚̮̲̺͍́ͯ́̓ͫ̂F̨̨͉̳̭̼̿̿̍̈́̿ͅE̱̙͍͓̜̓̎̽̅̕**

 **D̠̟͂͐̀̚͟E͖̬̼͙ͥ̒̉A͆ͧ̅ͪͧ͏̠̮͚̭͈͍D̲͓̼̬̣̙̱̮̈͐͟L̴͔̤̗̘͉̘̳̩͛̈́̂̆ͥ̑͒Ỵ͔̩̲̳̋̀ͧͧ̂͋́̃ ̩̜̞͖̤͕͗̓L̛̯̟͇̞̳̉͡I̳̤̱̰͉̦͕̍ͨͬ͝F̸̼͔̹̺̗̟͓̈̃̈́̈́͞E̗̣͎̲̹̰̳ͦͭͣ̾**

 **DEADLY LIFE**


	29. Chapter 4 (Deadly Life)

**(AN: WHAT? A quick update? IMPOSSIBLE! Well, not really. This fourth chapter, sans the upcoming investigation and class trial wasn't AS long as I expected (I'm not Kodaka after all, and if I was, I would so totally make Nekomaru/Gonta canon...), but making it has been fun and games! Well, fun and games no more! I already made my proofreader upset at me for killing off Big, and someone else is gonna die soon. Let's see who it'll be in these upcoming parts so someone will eventually get upset at me!)**

* * *

 **DE** **ADLY LIFE**

I didn't want to look away from what I was seeing. Even after Egg Robo's message was finished, I just… I kept staring.

Big lay on the floor, motionless. His face was covered in vomit, the foam from his mouth and the green liquid from his eyes drooled from his face and dripped onto the floor, creating a small puddle. The glass of water he dropped still lay by him, as it was beyond hard to believe that minutes ago, he was still alive.

What happened? Why did he come in like he was sick… then die like this? Even if people died here, at least their deaths were quick. But Big… he suffered through each minute.

And worst of all… just before he died, he named Tikal as the one who did it. She simply covered her mouth, looking ill herself as she collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly, Egg Robo popped into the room.

"And so, murder four has happened!" he said. Vector perked when he heard this.

"Did yeh say… murder?"

"Well, duh! This is a murder! What else could it be? Did you have a different idea, Mr. Vector?"

Vector scratched his chin and nodded. "This death is far too strange. Why would he stumble in here like that if all of us were here?"

"Geez, if I answered that, it would spoil what happened!" Egg Robo said, angry. "Now shut your trap hole and listen! You know what to do! You've done it like three times now! That's right! It's time to begin the investigation! And if you all would be so kind to hold out your hands…"

Egg Robo held up an EggPAD. "…so I can give you the fourth EggPAD! Ho ho ho… the tides are turning even stronger with each case! Will you solve THIS case? Or will this be the one where you all will crumble? Time's ticking!"

He vanished as Silver turned to face Vector. "What do you mean it's strange, Vector?"

"Did yeh not listen to me?" Vector replied, looking up from the EggPAD. "Why would he stumble in here if everyone was in here?"

"So what? Are you suggesting that he did this to himself?" Blaze asked.

"Read the EggPAD."

Doing what he said, I looked at the autopsy and read it to myself.

 _"Victim #5, Big the Cat._

 _The victim died of a slow-moving poison that was injected into his right eye via syringe. There also seemed to be sign of a struggle during the time he was injected with the poison, as indicated by a mark left on his neck."_

"Sign of a struggle?" Espio asked. "Then, does this mean he was murdered?"

"I thought it could have been some kinda suicide. But… why would you go out like that?" I added.

Vector sighed. "That's the thing. It could be either one of those two," he replied. "I'm leanin' more on the 'He was attacked' theory, but the idea of him killin' himself ain't outta the question. There could be a few ways in which yeh could fake a struggle with yourself."

"OH HELLLLL NO!" Rosie suddenly yelled. I yelped.

"Jeez, when did you get here?!"

"None of your business, Chimcharm! It looks like Biffy died, didn't he? Huh huh?! DIDN'T HE?!"

"B-Biffy?!"

"And judging by Ms. Helen Lovejoy there, I bet it was HER who did it, you S.O.B!"

Tikal got up, still looking fearful for her life. "N-No! You're… you're wrong! I would n-never-!"

"I mean… he DID say your name, Tikal…" Silver put his hands on his hips, looking conflicted. "I mean, who else could he be talking about? Someone else with that name?""

This didn't sit well with Tikal, who began to cry. "Y-You're w-w-wrong! I would n-never kill! It goes against… against e-everything I learned as a p-pacifist!" she said, taking deep breaths in between every sob. But I could tell none of us were believing her. At least, only Rosie, Silver, Blaze, and Wave didn't.

"Look, regardless of who's crying wolf or not, we have to find out who's going to be on guard duty," Wave said. "Since our strong man is dead, we-"

"I shall take care of him," Blaze replied.

"You?"

"Rest assured, I will do a good job in protecting him. You all seem to have forgotten why I was invited to come to this zone, no?"

"Before ya all go, there's somethin' I need to ask," Vector said. "Tell me… ALL of yeh, what were ya doin' before yeh came to the dinin' hall this mornin'?"

"I was… I woke up… in my bed, with my head hurting…" Tikal said. "The pain was beyond real…"

"I came here first thing in the morning," Blaze said.

"As did I," Wave added. Everyone else said the same, causing Vector to sigh.

"Figures…"

"Why do you need to question all of us?" I asked him.

"I still just dunno… how could he have died while we were all here? The EggPAD said he was killed by a slow movin' poison, but all of us except yeh and Big were here at 7. If that was the case, dependin' on what kinda poison it was… how could anyone have the time to kill him and go back to their room and pretend like they had just woken up?"

"I think you are thinking about this too much," Espio said. "Our answer is likely easy to find, but one shadowed in clues and steps to overcome. Should we need to find our answer as to who killed him, we first need to know when and how he died."

"As such, I think we can rule out his death being anywhere after 7. It might be easy to say Charmy couldda done it… but remember, not even five minutes after he came in, Big strolled in. The poison was slow movin', so there's no way he couldda just rushed past the dinin' hall without anyone seein' him."

"Plus… I already had people accusing me of one murder already. I don't need another," I added.

"So, shall we begin our search?"

"I believe so," Blaze said. "Well, you all have fun. I for one… well, I don't like looking at this sight. Poor thing. Who's going to make my milk tea now though?"

Wondering why she was worried about tea at a time like this, everyone began to walk off. Tikal however, still stayed where she was, likely fearful of even moving from where she was. I could feel a tap on my shoulder, so I turned around to see Vector and Espio standing in front of me.

"I think it's time we investigate another murder," the crocodile said. "This time, let's do it as a team."

"You mean, all three of us?" I replied.

"If it wasn't fer this zone, I think I'd want yeh two as employees fer my detective agency. The skills yeh two possess are just what I need."

"I appreciate the offer, but my skills as a ninja are not meant for doing detective work," Espio replied. "However, I feel honored to be a close ally."

"Alright!" I said, excited. "Come on guys, let's make a team name. How about-"

"I love the cute kid stuff, and sure yeh'd be our mascot, but now's not the time." Vector replied. "Did yeh forget? This ain't a game. We're tryin' to solve Big's murder here."

"Oh… sorry…"

"Well, where to?" Espio asked. Vector began to walk out of the dining hall as we followed him behind.

"Hey, what gives?" I asked. "Don't walk out on us!"

"I ain't. I just wanna get this done as quick and as accurate as we can get," he replied.

"While we're here, I suppose I can ask you about the murder weapon," Espio added.

"A slow movin' poison from a syringe to his right eye… what a ghastly way to die…"

"I think I've seen a horror movie where that happens. Except, it was in the side of her face and she died. How could Big have survived something like that?" I said.

"Getting a needle to the eye ain't enough to kill yeh. If it went through yer head, okay maybe. But stabbed into your eye and not deep enough hurts, yeah. But it likely won't kill yeh. What killed him likely was that poison. And since it's poison we're dealing with, there's only one likely place for us to go."

As we continued to go up the stairs to the second floor and to the third, I knew where we were going.

Sure enough, we arrived on the fourth floor in front of the door to the chem lab. Vector turned the doorknob and pulled the door open, revealing the same cabinets I had seen the poison in a few days ago. Vector walked in front of the cabinet and squinted.

"Sure enough, here it is," he said. "Plenty of poisons in solid and liquid form. The correct one though? We're just gonna haveta search."

"How will we know it's been used?" Espio asked.

"Yesterday, I looked in here and found that all the poisons are all unopened. Whichever one ain't sealed is the key."

…it seemed this is where we had to start. In a cabinet full of poisons where anything could have been it. I saw hundreds of poisons as my eyes wandered from top to bottom. I wasn't sure which one it could have been… but one thing was for sure. I had to do this… for our friend. I had to solve yet another murder!

 **INVESTIGATION**

 **BEGIN!**


	30. Chapter 4 (Investigation)

**(AN: Okay, I know I should have gotten this out a LOT sooner and I'm sorry. I've just been trying to get adjusted to going back to school but WOW it's a lot harder than it seems lmao. Not to worry though, there's no way I'm gonna give in. And don't worry, I'll make sure this investigation and coming trial will be exciting! Even if it's not massively long. Again, I'm not a DR writer, cause I don't think I could be so rube-goldbergy.**

 **Oh, and thank you for 4.3k views! I haven't heard from you guys in a while, so I'd love to hear what you all think so far! It helps me improve anything you all want to see in the future, or anything else really!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo floated on his back in a lone swimming pool, not moving any part of his body. He kept his same expression as his head hit the concrete wall and bounced him backwards._

 _"Let's use this pool as a metaphor for life," he said. "Depending on the person, you either float or you sink when you're in a pool. I use this as a metaphor for life, because the people who sink have a hard time coming back up. Oh sure, you can swim back up, but you have to balance yourself perfectly so you don't sink again. Meanwhile, people who float always will come back up. No matter what happens to them… they always come back up."_

 _He looked at the pool's floor, seeing belongings of everyone who died so far at Green Hills._

 _"You know, if only there was a lifeguard here, then I think these people could float instead of sink…"_

* * *

"Let's start with the top shelf," Vector said.

"I'll start from the bottom," added Espio.

"And I'll go to the middle!" I said, looking through each bottle of poison on the shelf. "Uh… hey, Vector? It's okay to like, touch this stuff… right?"

"As long as ya don't inhale it or put it in yer mouth, I'm sure ye'll be fine."

"I must ask, Vector…" Espio said, taking out a can of powder poison. "What kind of poison are we looking for? If it was a syringe, it could be anything."

"It would make sense fer it to be liquid poison."

"B-But couldn't you like… mix a powder poison in water and put it in a syringe?" I asked.

"Yeh could. But why would yeh wanna when yeh already have so many liquid poisons like this available to yeh? It's easier to just use one in liquid form," Vector pulled out a vial of liquid poison and undid the seal, sighing when he saw that it wasn't it. "Damn… so many toxins here…"

"Hm? I think I found something…"

Sure enough, Espio pulled out a bottle of arsenic in liquid form. When I looked down, I noticed that the liquid was white. At first, I didn't think it was it, until I saw Espio quickly open the cap.

"T-This is it! It has no seal! It's been opened!"

Vector grabbed the bottle. "Lemme see that…" He squinted his eyes looking at the label, but then shot them open.

"W-What the hell?!"

"What? What?!" I asked, now concerned.

"T-The toxicity level on this thing-!"

Espio read the label. "LD50… 0.000001?"

"Hey, what does that mean? I only know about the poison that's in flowers!" I said.

"LD50 stands fer lethal dose," Vector said. "It's a unit of measurement to determine how many kilograms of something would be needed fer it to be lethal. Metallic Arsenic, which is the 'least' dangerous type of arsenic, has an LD50 level of 0.763. The smaller the LD50 level, the more dangerous a toxin can be. This is… oh gosh…"

"Why is that so bad?"

"0.000001, Charmy. That's even LESS than the LD50 level for the substance that causes botulism! The fact that a type of arsenic this small exists here… it's like Egg Robo knew…"

I was surprised by how unhinged Vector was. He was so calm and collected… why did this make him more open for us to read?

"Would any kind of government allow a type of substance like this to exist?" Espio asked.

"No, never. IF this fell into the wrong hands, someone might just cause biological warfare. Maybe if yeh were doin' experiments with it yeh could get away with ownin' it as long as yeh had government permission, but I dunno how Egg Robo could have this be made or what this even could be made from to turn arsenic even more deadly than it already is."

"If it's so dangerous, why was it used on Big?" I asked.

"The thing with arsenic is that it's a slow movin' toxin. Whoever killed Big wanted a gradual sickness but with the most damagin' results. Now, whether they knew how LD50 levels work, I dunno. What I DO know is that how we saw Big dying isn't how most people die from arsenic poisonin'. That green stuff comin' out of his eye, it ain't normal. I'm thinking it has to do with this."

"Perhaps it turned his blood green?" Espio asked.

"It's an interestin' theory, but let's wait until we find the truth."

"Hold on!" I said. "If this is such a dangerous poison… why was he still alive? When he came into the dining hall… it seemed like he was still alive or had just woken up!" I added.

"That's true…" Vector scratched his chin. "See, I think that even WITH such a low LD50 level, due to arsenic being a slow poison, it was a lot faster then yer average one, but still slow enough fer him to be knocked out after an attack fer some time, wake up and get up from the floor, and come back to the dinin' hall. Somethin' we're gonna need to determine durin' our investigation is how long it had been since Big was likely attacked. Remember what the EggPAD said? There was a sign of struggle on Big's neck."

"You're right…"

But with this, I can say with confidence that we found what was used to attack Big. With that, I got out my PAD and wrote my first clue; the bottle of liquid arsenic.

"Now that we found what was used, we now gotta determine a few things," Vector said. "Where and when this took place, what syringe was used to attack him, and any testimonies people had regarding Big."

"You're right. Let's go," Espio nodded. Before we left, I noticed a can of powder in the far-left shelf was knocked over.

"Hey guys! Look!"

The two reptiles turned around to see what I was pointing at.

"What's that?" Vector asked.

"Protein powder?..." Espio added, walking towards it. "Yes, I started using this when we discovered the chem lab. Why is it like that?"

"Maybe they were trying to find some way to kill Big?" I asked. "Like, if the poison failed, just use the powder to like… suffocate him?"

"Nah, I doubt it. Again, there's poison. Why would yeh need protein powder?"

I sighed; he did have a point after all.

"So, now what?" Espio asked.

"Let's first try to determine where Big was attacked by searchin' through the floor. Espio, you can take the office, meanwhile, I'll take the classrooms. Charmy, can yeh handle the music room?" Vector replied.

I saluted. "Roger!"

The three of us split up as I buzzed over to the music room. When I swung the door open, my eyes widened. I could tell there was quite a lot that was different from the last time I was here. Turning my head in every corner, I didn't know where to begin.

The first thing I noticed were some beads on the floor. Picking them up, I turned my head.

"Whose are these?"

There was only one guess as to who they could have belonged to. With that, I wrote my second clue: the beads found on the floor.

The second thing I noticed was the locked door from last time. I couldn't help but notice some singe marks on the knob, and when I went to turn the knob…

Rather than not turning at all, the knob turned all the way, but didn't let the door open.

"It looks like it's still broken…" I said. "But now I'll have to ask about the beads…"

I wrote down a quick reminder of the knob as I buzzed out of the room. Knowing that Vector was nearby in a classroom, I went inside of the one closest to the music room. Sure enough, I saw Vector lifting desks looking for clues.

"Vector! Vector!"

He turned to face me. I pointed at the beads in my hand. Getting up from the floor, Vector had a conflicted face.

"I hate to say it, but those're definitely Tikal's..."

"I only thought they could have been but you're saying it's confirmed?"

"Earlier before yeh came by, Tikal was complainin' that she couldn't find her prayer beads, it makes sense to think that the prayer beads yeh found in there are hers."

"S-So… that means… Tikal was at the crime scene?!"

"Hold yer horses, I ain't blamin' her. I just think that she might have been there durin' the attack."

"Doing what?"

Vector sighed. "That's the problem, I dunno what. We'll need to ask her."

"She said she doesn't remember much from last night!"

"Well, I think the prayer beads will suffice as a good reminder. Here, stay put. Lemme get Espio."

Vector walked off, and seconds later, returned with Espio in tow.

"Vector has informed me about what you found. If Tikal's prayer beads were found there… then I agree in believing that the music room is where Big was attacked," he said.

"There's one more thing too," I said. "You know that door in the back of the music room?"

"Yeah?" Vector replied.

"Well, when I was looking around in the room, I noticed there was some kinda singe on there. You think you know what might have caused it?"

Vector and Espio looked at each other.

"Charmy, please show us," Espio said.

Nodding, I took the two reptiles to the music room, guiding them to the door in the back. When I did, Vector crouched to examine the doorknob in question. He jiggled it around a few times and turned it just like I did.

"Damn thing's more busted than I thought," Vector said. "But if there's singe marks… wouldn't that mean that fire was used here?"

"And out of all of us, Blaze is the only one who could possibly use fire," Espio replied.

"Didn't she say she was gonna try and open the door a few days ago? This means that it must have been from her attempt to do so!" I said, remembering what she had said. "It either has to be that… or maybe… maybe Tikal was able to find a way to get the doorknob like that? Just because she did that doesn't mean she's automatically the killer. We discovered stuff like that doesn't apply when it came to Knuckles or Sonic and Storm's case."

"That's true… well, we'll need to get testimonies from both Tikal and Blaze. After that… what should we do? We determine the substance used to kill Big… but as for where he was attacked…"

Vector scratched his chin and looked at us. "Here."

"Pardon?"

"I think Big was attacked here. Think 'bout it. The doorknob bein' that messed up wouldn't be normal. No one with that amount of strength could mess it up like that."

"Not even you?" I asked.

"I consider myself someone to be physically strong, but not THAT strong. Naw, this ain't normal. Fer now, let's assume this was the area where Big was attacked and head on downstairs so we can talk to Tikal and then Blaze."

Nodding, we headed out of the music room and left the fourth floor, taking the stairs down to the first floor.

"Do you think Tikal started her investigation?" I asked.

"I doubt it," Vector replied as we continued walking. "I imagine the shock of her bein' the one accused probably made her so scared that she refuses to move."

His prediction was right when we entered the dining hall and saw Tikal still hovering over the body of Big, hand over her mouth.

"Tikal," Vector said, grabbing her attention.

She yelped and got up. "Oh, Vector, Espio, Charmy… I… I…"

"Save the fear fer now, Tikal, I ain't here to scare ya. I just wanna ask yeh a question."

I held up the prayer beads I found in the music room.

"Do these look familiar to ya?" Vector asked.

She gasped. "My prayer beads! Where did you-" Tikal then stopped and then yelped again.

"Do you know where these were found?" Espio asked. "They were in the music room on the floor. Could you tell us why they were there?"

"I-I… I don't know…"

"Ya know Tikal, it's pretty obvious yer lyin'," Vector said.

The echidna girl sighed. "Y-Yes… Yes, I was in the music room… But, please don't think I'm the blackened! I swear I'm not!"

"Then why were they there?" I asked.

"I… I wish I knew… All I remember waking up to last night was blurry vision, trying to stumble into the infirmary, seeing a pack of something open on the counter, and then going back to bed. I don't know why my prayer beads were there!"

"Well Vector?" Espio asked. "She seems to be telling the truth."

"Still, we have to suspect everyone," Vector replied. "Tikal, I ain't doin' this to victimize yeh, but until we find more evidence, the prayer beads bein' there only means that yeh were there when Big was attacked. Do ya remember anything?"

Tikal paused, looking at her hand.

"I… I remember last night, getting a note telling me to come to the music room and to bring my prayer beads. After that, everything is a blur from there. I just remember something coming towards me and waking up back in my bed."

"Can we see the note?"

"I… I don't know where it is!"

Vector looked down at Tikal. "I think Tikal has everything we need to hear."

"She does?" I turned my head.

"C'mon, let's talk to Blaze."

Walking away, I turned around to see a depressed Tikal looking at her feet as the three of us left the dining hall and I wrote my second clue; Tikal's Account. We then walked toward Blaze, who sat at one of the seats watching over the large cat.

"Ah, good morning, boys," she said, smiling. "I have a bit of a theory. Maybe there may be clues in Big's room? Although, Egg Robo's rule happened, we can't bust the door open. Perhaps I should see if he has his key on his body?"

"Speaking of clues…" Espio replied. "Blaze, we have a question for you. Earlier this week, you mentioned that you were going to try to open the door leading to the second-floor dorms in the music hall. Right now, there are singe marks on the doorknob. Was this your doing?"

"Oh, it was. It seems you found my embarrassing attempt to try and open the door. Yes, it's true that I was the one who left the singe marks there. After my promise, I tried to use my powers to unjam the knob, but I'm sure you know how well that went. I quickly gave up from there."

"And what about the broken knob?" Vector asked.

"Broken… knob?"

"The one that someone here broke?"

"I'm sorry, I don't think I've heard that one. Someone broke the knob?"

"Basically, when ya turn the knob, it turns all the way clockwise and it's unable to be opened. Did that have anything to do with your powers?"

"I… don't recall it happening, no."

She seemed to be certain about what she saw and did, so it gave me no room to doubt her. With that, I wrote clue 3: Blaze's Account.

"By the way, Charmy… what's with the prayer beads in your hand?"

"Oh, these?" I replied. "I found them on the floor of the music room. They were Tikal's."

"Tikal's?"

She looked down at her feet and back at me.

"Then I believe that Tikal is our guilty one. It may be easy to assume that she would be it because Big said so, but to carelessly leave her prayer beads out in the open seems very much like her."

"Ya really think plannin' a murder is something on Tikal's agenda?" Vector asked.

Blaze smiled.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she was pulling an act on all of us. You've been seeing how each time, she's becoming more and more broken because of these cases that she probably snapped. That's how I see it."

She says that… but is it true? That's something we need to make clear as quick as possible.

As we walked away from the three, Vector looked conflicted.

"Okay, here's what I'm thinkin'…" he said. "Tikal said that she remembers goin' to the music room and was told to bring her prayer beads. Either that means someone took them and they were planted at the scene, or… Tikal still had them when she woke up but forgot to get them due to her state."

"Wait… the scene?" Espio asked.

"I'm startin' to believe that Big didn't kill himself but was attacked there. After all, if Tikal said she woke up dazed, as did Big, then someone else musta been with them."

"You think that someone else may have been involved with the murder?"

"Argh… that's what I'm still not sure of yet. It's easy to think Big committed suicide since we were all there in the dinin' hall, but think to everythin' we found so far… The prayer beads being in the music room… Tikal saying she couldn't find them, that means she remembers having them."

"Hey, not to interrupt but… couldn't Big have been the one that attacked Tikal? He is really strong after all," I said.

Vector sighed. "Damn, I ain't even come up with THAT possibility yet. Course, what we have so far; it's just theories…"

"So, if I'm getting this… someone tried to pin the blame on Tikal by attacking her, planting her prayer beads, and betting on her to wake up and forget the beads?" Espio asked.

"I think that's the gist of it…"

"Why don't we talk about the murder weapon next!" I added. "A syringe, right? Where else could we find one?"

"The infirmary, that's right," Espio said. "Don't forget, Tikal said she went there after she woke up and before she went back to her dorm. That must mean there should be a clue still in there."

With that, we ran to the infirmary and opened the door. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for the most part, until Vector walked over to the counter.

"Look."

Espio and I went over to the table where we saw a pack of needles opened.

"Hey, isn't this what Tikal saw when she was dazed?" I asked.

"Now that you mention it… she said that she saw that something was open. It must be this," Espio added.

"And that," Vector pointed towards a plastic case with a biohazard symbol on it that was wide open.

"So that's it! The needle and I bet the syringe came from here!" I said, before looking at the pack. When I did though, I noticed something weird about how it was cut. Vector noticed my expression and what I had been fixated on.

"What's wrong, Charmy?"

"The pack... isn't the way how it's cut weird? Like, it looks like someone didn't use scissors or a knife to cut it!"

"Yer right."

"And by the way it's cut… it looks like someone used their teeth or their nails to cut it," Espio said.

"So what do we do?" I asked. "Check to see whose nails were long enough to cut it?"

"That's a no from me," Vector replied. "But… the idea that it can be cut that way ain't out of the question."

With that, I wrote down my fourth clue: the pack of needles.

"There's one more thing though…"

"Huh?"

"Espio, check the trash can. And try not to get yerself poked by a needle."

"Roger," Espio bowed and walked over to the trash can. It wasn't long until he pulled out a syringe with a needle still on it. I could tell through the plastic of the syringe that there were droplets of a white liquid in it.

"I knew it…" Vector said. "Figures our killer couldn't find a right place to throw this out. If they left it at the scene of the crime, then that would be too easy. They didn't think anyone would look in the infirmary."

"Well, what now?"

We heard the door open as we turned our heads to face it. Sure enough, Wave was at the door.

"Oh… it's YOU three," she said.

"What do yeh desire, Wave?" Vector asked.

"I was doing my own investigation when I came across the detective couple and their love child. What else?"

"What is with you all and your obsession with Vector and me?…" Espio murmured under his breath.

"Well, that doesn't matter. I figured that even though we'll never see eye to eye, I thought I'd let you know about my latest find."

Wave held up a piece of paper as the three of us inched closer to it. Reading it, my eyes widened.

 _"Come up to the music room. I need your help opening a door. Make sure to bring your room key and prayer beads!"_

I then saw who signed it.

 _Big._

Once I saw this, I knew I found my next clue, so I wrote it down.

"Is this paper's really Big's?" Vector asked.

Egg Robo popped into the room.[1]

"Doubting Mr. Big are we, Vector?" he asked. "I said it once, I'll say it again: you people never seem to believe anything going on around you! If it'll make you happy…"

Egg Robo pulled out a notepad from his coat pocket, holding it up.

"This'll prove it!"

"What's… that?" Espio asked.

"Big's personal notepad! You think he'd do a better job of keeping it hidden or hell, keeping it locked away! Doesn't he know about any tween girl? They always love to keep their diaries locked up in cute heart locks with a key-"

"That's enough!" Wave said. "Look, they asked you a question, answer it."

"Ugh, fine! I'm just giving Big advice! Jeez, Ms. Bossypants!"

Egg Robo opened the notepad and showed us one of the pages.

 _"Day 11 –_

 _Mr. Knuckles the Echdina died today. Mr. Shadow the Hedgehog was the one responsibel. Im sad that Mr. Knuckles the Echidna died, He was nice. He gave me a pretty gem. I think I'll give it to Froggy when I go home._

 _We also found out that Ms. Amy Rose is a cerial killer named Rosie the Rascal. Shes scary! I hope Ill have good dreams tonight."_

I noticed some of the spelling mistakes and grammatical issues. I guess it made sense, as Big never really had a proper education…

Vector grabbed the notepad and compared it to the note Wave had given him. He alternated between reading one paper to the other.

"I have no doubt..." he said. "I do think that it was written by Big."

Egg Robo let out a digitized sigh. "See? And you had the audacity to think I was lying!"

"But where did you even get this?" I asked.

"I heard you almost ready to talk smack about me AGAIN, so to prove you wrong I quickly went to Big's room, got the notepad, and came here!" The robot cackled mechanically.

Espio looked at the crocodile. "Well, Vector? Any ideas?"

He looked down at his feet, deep in thought. "I… Damn, okay… see; I said this whole time that the way things are goin', it's lookin' like Big was attacked. But at the same time… Big was the one who invited Tikal to the music room. If we go with that, then that means the theory yeh came up with, Charmy, about Big bein' the one who attacked Tikal does have some merit. Tikal couldda easily trusted Big and went willy-nilly to the music room."

"Gee, my head sure is spinning from how complex this sounds!" Egg Robo said. "What about your head, dear reader? Yours too?"

"Enough with the fourth wall breaks," Wave replied.

"Gotcha that!"

Egg Robo vanished as Wave looked at all of us.

"That theory though… I imagine Tikal is being framed regardless."

"Do you believe that Tikal is guilty, or that she's being set up and that either he was killed or he killed himself?" Espio asked.

"Our problem is, if Big set up this whole thing, how could a third person be there without any one of those two mentioning it?" Wave pondered.

"Now that she mentions it, she does have a point…" I said.

"But now there's a problem," Vector said. "What would Big gain from killin' himself?"

"Who knows," Wave replied. "That cat was one of the biggest dunces I've ever seen. I'm not surprised if his feeble mind gave into the fear and anxiety of this zone."

"I think that's something we need to investigate," Vector looked at us as he said that.

"Well, YOU three can have fun. Myself, I'm on my way to find actual clues than focus on conspiracy theories. Farewell. Wave walked off, leaving us behind.

"Guys?" I asked. "I think we're not thinking about this through."

"What makes ya say that?" Vector asked.

"Think about it. Tikal was apparently attacked alongside Big, right? That means that the killer had to use some kind of object to attack Tikal!"

"And you're saying that we're not looking in the right areas?" Espio asked.

"Exactly!"

"Well then," Vector said. "Let's make findin' out what Tikal was attacked with our next priority."

As we left the infirmary, Espio looked around. "Our biggest issue with trying to find what Tikal could have been attacked with is that it could be anything. There are a multitude of different objects that can be used as blunt instruments."

"That's true. Unless we find out which one it could be, I think we're gonna be stuck here," the crocodile added. Just then, as if our prayers were answered…

Amy came up to us.

"Oh, you three!" she said. "Am I glad I found you!"

"Hm? What's wrong, Amy?"

"How's your investigation coming along? Mine's… not too great. I haven't found anything worthwhile… Damn, why does this investigation have to be so tricky? It's like the killer had this easily planned out!"

"Well, the killer had all this planned out so no one could find their traces. Of course they ain't gonna let anyone find out it was them."

"Yeah… I guess you're right… ow…"

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I… I dunno… I felt a bit of pain earlier this morning."

"You too?"

"Whaddya mean, pain?" Vector asked.

"Oh… that's right… I probably should have mentioned…. I'm sorry."

All three of us stared at Amy, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"See, last night, I… suddenly woke up on the floor of the fourth-floor office. I think I was there likely cause of Rosie, b-but when I woke up, I saw the dolly used during the last case next to me!"

"Durin' the last case? Ya mean the one Storm used to make it seem like he used it to transport Sonic?"

"That one… yeah… I don't know what it was doing there, but it really made me freak out. I ran out of the room and returned to my bed, but not even 15 minutes later, the morning bell went off."

"Is the dolly still there?" Espio asked.

"I think so… I'm sorry if I didn't have much to work with. I figured I'd tell you all, since I trust you three more than anyone else."

"Well, thanks!" I said. "It's always appreciated to have some help! C'mon, let's go find the dolly!"

"And I'll keep trying to find any clues!" Amy then looked at Vector and Espio. "Oh, and uh… by the way? You two really do look like a couple. I've been noticing it more. Just thought I'd let you know. Byeeeeee!~"

Amy skipped away from us as I saw the two shake their heads.

"What is their idea of wanting to pair us romantically…" Espio said.

"I'd rather not question it. I figured there'd be people here who aren't the brightest anyway," Vector replied. While they were wallowing away, I got out my PAD and wrote my sixth clue: Amy's Account.

"Damn, now that I think 'bout it, we shouldda asked Rosie 'bout what she saw."

"I don't think Amy would be too pleased to let her out," I replied. "Still, we should probably go to the office and find the dolly!"

* * *

After making our way from the first floor to the fourth, we entered the office and found the blue dolly sitting on the floor. It looked untouched, and judging from its position, it was likely put there without care.

Vector walked over to the dolly and picked it up, turning it around to try and find any markings on it.

"Did you find anything yet?" Espio asked. The crocodile turned the dolly around and continued examining it.

"Nah, there's nothin' on it. Even the blood on the wheels that was there last time is gone."

"Hey, I don't mean to like… come up with crackpot theories but… couldn't this dolly be the one that Tikal was attacked with?" I asked. Vector and Espio looked at me.

"This?" they said in unison.

"Think about it. Tikal was likely knocked out after her attack, which could explain why she woke up in a daze when she finally got her bearings straight. A dolly like this could be enough to where if you slapped someone with it as hard as you can, you could probably definitely knock them out. This could maybe also explain why Tikal was asked to bring her prayer beads. After her attack, could it be likely that she'd drop them on the floor and forget about them once she woke up?"

The two looked at each other and then back to me.

"I think… yeh gotta point," Vector said.

"AND, not to mention, you could probably just stick it in here once you're done with it. No one would check the office cause, well, what reason is there to check it if the murder happened somewhere else? It's the perfect plan! At least, in the killer's mind."

Espio grabbed the dolly from Vector's hands. "Well, I think we should pay Tikal a visit and ask if she remembers the dolly."

"Do you think she will?"

"It's worth a shot."

As Espio put the dolly under his arm, we headed back to the dining hall. Vector was still deep in thought as we continued to travel downwards.

"Hey Vector, any theories?" I asked. No answer.

When we arrived, Tikal was still in the dining hall, not making a single move or sound. She did however, gasp when she saw us.

"Vector, Espio, Charmy! I-" she said before Espio interrupted her, holding up the dolly.

"Tikal, I just want an answer. Have you seen this dolly?" he asked.

"Wasn't this the dolly used during our last case?"

"It is, but we have all the reason to believe it was used again. Now, please answer the question. Have you seen this, or not?"

Tikal looked down at her feet and then at us.

"V-Very vaguely yes… When I arrived at the music room, I didn't see anything at first. I just heard someone rattling something. Before I could turn to face it, I found that same dolly rushing towards my face. That's all I remember before passing out and waking up in pain back in my bed."

Thanks to that testimony, I updated Tikal's account to add the new information she gave us.

"Please… I swear I didn't kill him!" she said, holding her hands. "Don't let me die!"

"I swear to you that won't happen," Espio said. "We just needed the truth. Thank you for giving it to us."

Tikal sniffed as we walked away.

"There was someone else in that room when Tikal was attacked." Vector said.

"You caught that too it seems," Espio added.

"Who could it be though?" I asked.

"Let's review everything we learned so far. First, Tikal was asked to come to the music room at an unknown time by Big, who requested she bring her prayer beads and her room key. When she arrived, she was struck by the dolly and dropped her prayer beads. Likely her room key was used to bring her back to her room to get her prayer beads away from her to plant as 'evidence'. During this time, Tikal mentioned hearing the rattling of something, so it's likely to think two people were there at the time: Big, and someone else."

"Next, when Tikal finally did wake up, she woke up in pain and headed to the infirmary to likely get some pain medicine. It was there in her dazed vision that she saw the biohazard box open and the needles on the counter," Vector added.

"And finally…" I finished. "When Tikal was doing all of that, Big likely had to have killed himself with the syringe."

Vector looked at me. "Killed _himself?_ Nah."

"No?"

"That other person in the room… I have a feeling they're responsible."

"You keep saying that Big was attacked, what makes you think that?"

"Doncha get it? It's as I said: there's no benefit fer Big to kill himself. Why would he wanna just end his life fer the purpose of framin' Tikal? I know this place ain't about trustin' everyone blindly, but yeh could tell Big loved everyone."

"Maybe he was fooling everyone?" Espio asked.

"On the contrary, I think that third person is foolin' everyone."

"Our problem is, whoever that third person is, they've hidden themselves so well and erased any and all connection they had with the case."

Vector scratched his chin before looking at us.

"Think back to the motive."

"The motive?" Espio and I asked.

"Our motive is changin' anythin' 'bout yerself, isn't it? Egg Robo is lettin' anyone who doesn't like a factor 'bout themselves change it to however they want it."

"And that could mean that if she wanted to, Tikal could get rid of her whole pacifist personality?"

"I dun think yer on the right track, Espio. Sure, there's probably some chance that Tikal is really a killer and hidin' her true self under her behavior, but look at everythin' she's done. Ya surely can't act that well each time."

"You sound certain."

"When someone's lyin', yeh can easily tell they are thanks to a few factors. Expression, personality, and tone of voice. Tikal really does show that everythin's been affectin' her, so I dun have any reason to suspect her."

"But are you certain? Tails, Shadow, and Jet were able to play their roles perfectly and still were murderers who got caught in the end."

"That's where yer wrong. What they all messed up with is that they all made crucial mistakes in tryin' to cover up their murders. Tails left his fur in the trash room, Shadow with his random argument not even 24 hours after bein' 'best bros' with Knuckles, and Jet slippin' up and revealing that he knew about Sonic's murder when he was informed about his death even though he acted like he only discovered Storm. Tikal hasn't done anythin' like that."

"But then… who ACTUALLY killed Big?" I asked.

None of us responded, and I retreated to my thoughts to try and figure this mystery out.

"Was there someone really wanting to frame Tikal? Someone willing to go so far as to attack someone as kind and as sweet as Big?"

I kept thinking about Tikal… Tikal… Ti… Ka…

I thought back to Big's dying words. It was Tikal's name. But there was something I didn't think about until now.

"Hey," I said. "I wanna ask you guys something."

"Hm?"

"Did… was there anything weird about how Big named Tikal when he died?"

Vector looked at me. "Whaddya mean?"

"Remember how he was pronouncing her name? It was… weird. He pronounced the 'ka' in her name as 'kaah'"

"Perhaps the poison slurred his words as he died?" Espio asked.

"No… yer right. He didn't pronounce it right. I dun think it was the poison," Vector asked.

"You don't think it was the poison?"

"…think back to the PAD."

"The PAD?"

I was confused about what he meant, but I think Vector knew something we didn't. With that, I wrote my next clues: Big's dying words and the PAD.

"Wait, let's go back to Big's body," I said. "I feel… I feel like something else is there."

Vector and Espio looked at me as I buzzed on back to the dining hall. Tikal was surprised when she saw me again, and she just watched as the other two came in. I began to feel around Big's body.

"Charmy, what are you doing?" Blaze asked.

"There's something not right here," I replied, still feeling his body. Espio tapped my shoulder.

"I think I found what your issue is."

I looked to see where Espio was pointing at and I saw that Big… had no sandals on.

"W-What? What happened to his sandals?"

"Someone musta took them off of him," Vector replied.[2]

"But where could they be?"

"The chem lab."

We turned to see where the voice was coming from. We were surprised to see… Silver.

"Silver?" I asked.

"I saw it… in the chem lab… There was a mess on the floor, and some sandals close by too."

"I'm actually surprised that you found this out," Espio said.

"I… came as fast as I could… to tell you…"

All three of us looked at each other as we rushed towards the chem lab. We didn't know how long we had until Egg Robo announced it was time for the trial, so thankfully, I was able to arrive first while Vector and Espio almost tripped on the way to the chem lab. I opened the door as quickly as possible as I noticed what Silver was talking about. There was a powdery substance on the floor that I didn't notice at first. I buzzed close to it…

"Charmy, no!"

I looked up to see Vector grabbing me by my neck, pulling me away from the mess.

"Ya dun know if that's poison! And… judgin' by that look, I think it's just that. Ya couldda breathed that in!"

"S-Sorry…"

Espio crouched to the floor and turned his head to the right.

"Ah… no wonder."

Getting up from the floor, he pulled out a pair of brown sandals and pointed at a pair of three shoe outlines in the powder, alongside the various ones all over the floor likely from when we went through the cabinent.

"What does this mean?..." I asked, writing down as my ninth clue: the sandals.

"I think-"

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

We were interrupted by the bell as the monitor in the room turned on. Egg Robo appeared on the screen.

 _"Man, wasn't this such a short investigation? It's like this author can't pad out for time! Oh well, it's time for the thing you all love so much. It's time for… HOWDY DO- oh wait, that reference is far too obscure for you kids. No, it's time for the class trial! Please go through the red door on the first floor and wait patiently! After all, you know what to do now!"_

The monitor turned off as Vector looked at us.

"Damn… Not to worry, I think if ya think 'bout this mess, it should be easy to figure out what the footprints and Big's sandals being here means. And… think 'bout what I meant when I told yeh 'bout the PAD. C'mon, let's go."

We got up from the floor and headed to the first floor. My heart was racing as my vision was dizzy.

Four times…

Four times we had to be in that horrid trial room. I didn't want to see another execution; I didn't want another person to die.

But Egg Robo didn't care. He wanted nothing more than for these trials to instill despair into us. And I think it was working more and more…

When we arrived, Tikal was in hysterics as everyone surrounded her.

"P-Please! NO! I did nothing! I promise!" she sobbed.

"Unfortunately, you cannot prove that you DIDN'T do it," Blaze said. "You can understand why you're our suspect, no?"

"I… I don't! No! I didn't do anything! PLEASE!"

"I'm not buying it, I'm sorry," Silver said. "What about the sandals I found? Maybe you could have used those to not get your shoes dirty!"

"Enough! P-Please!"

"If yer done hecklin' her, I think we gotta trial to face," Vector said, interrupting the two.

"V-Vector…"

The crocodile looked at Tikal as he turned around back to us. Seconds later, Egg Robo popped into the room.

"Aummmmm…." He said, holding his hands together. "I'm gathering…. I'm gathering the power within."

"The power within for what?" Amy said.

"Channeling my inner buddha, aummmmmmmmmmm…."

"So, are we actually going to do this, or do you wish to continue embarrassing yourself?" Wave asked.

"Aummmmmmmm….. I ignore the comments of people who make fun of me, aummmmm…"

She sighed. "What a pathetic sight…"

"Hey, we goin' or not?" Vector asked. Egg Robo stopped.

"Well gee, glad to hear you finally responded, Vector! Did you forget that I'M the headmaster here, not you?"

He said nothing in response.

"Anyway, it's time to begin! Time to begin today's so fun, so loving, SO joyous occasion known as the class trial! I call it, Class Trial 4: The Revenge. Makes a good direct-to-DVD title, doesn't it? Well, when you're ready… head inside the elevator. Ho ho ho! See you there!"

Egg Robo vanished as Amy walked forward.

"This… this is gonna be my first trial without my Darling Sonic. I… I can do this!" she said, being the first one to enter the elevator. We all went inside, the doors closing behind Silver as the elevator began to descend downwards.

As we all stood silent, I couldn't help but notice who was left in this elevator. Myself, Vector, Espio, Amy, Tikal, Wave, Silver, and Blaze. Eight people left…

It was absolutely depressing to see our numbers go from 17 when we arrived, to about 9 gone in not even a month. So much I never got to know about my classmates, so much horror I'd seen when I saw them die in front of my eyes.

And Big…

I knew everyone either made fun of him or didn't have much of an opinion on him. But… it made me sad knowing that unlike the others, there wouldn't be anyone who missed him, except his frog maybe. It made me sad knowing that someone who, despite being mocked, tried to make the best of his life and do the things he loved the most. And with someone who was in high spirits and wanting to make everyone comfortable…

To think that person died such a horrific death…

The elevator came to a stop as the doors opened. This time, the walls of the trial room were now a sickly forest green and had a very dark green stripe pattern along the walls. It kind of reminded me of a forest to a degree. A fitting wallpaper for the person who died, I guess…

I could see from the distance two new portraits joining the group of greyscale 'red X's over their faces' pictures. No doubt, this had to represent Jet and Big.

"We're headin' deep into the forest for this trial! Because it's gonna be like a forest maze! With so many twists and turns, will all of you get out? Or will you be stuck here while just one person remains victorious?" Egg Robo said. "The time has come! Take your seats!"

As we all got into our usual places, I could feel uneasy as I looked to my right: seeing not only were Big and Jet's portraits were to my right, but I was now surrounded by dead people if all the portraits around me were any indication. The only living people even remotely close to me were Blaze and Espio on each side, and that wasn't saying much.

Once again, the curtains of despair opened. This would no doubt be another case of judgement, deception, betrayal, riddles, defenses, faith...

All of them combined leading to this deadly Class Trial!

Egg Robo grinned once we all got in our assigned stands, took his mallet, and descended the four-sided monitor down, slamming his gavel...

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	31. Chapter 4 (Class Trial (Part 1))

**(AN: Goodness, I know its been forever since I updated. Don't worry, not only is this trial portion long (mainly for the ending portion), but this trial might just be the shortest one of them all. Unlike Kodaka, I try not to pad for time (AT LEAST I HOPE NOT).**

 **That aside, while writing this, my laptop's keyboard decided, "Hey, let's let the 8, I, K, and , keys break because reasons!". So I have to write using a USB keyboard. Add to school piling on assignments and it's a LITTLE hard. Just a little.**

 **With that, I do hope you enjoy the end parts of this chapter and have enjoyed my take on a DR chapter! In a few days, I'll update with the next part since its done and ready!)**

* * *

 _As the curtains rise for a fourth trial, the list of people alive gets shorter and shorter. With only eight people alive, who was responsible for the horrific death of Big the Cat? The stakes get higher and higher, but the clues get harder and harder to solve…_

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL**

 **ALL RISE!**

* * *

Egg Robo did his usual as he cleared his throat and shifted into his chair, getting comfortable.

"Ahem, let's begin with a basic introduction of the class trial, so your votes will determine the results! The purpose of the class trial is to figure out "Who did it?". If you can find it out, only the blackened who committed murder will receive their punishment. But... if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone else besides the blackened, and the one who deceived everyone else will graduate! Now, I assume that everyone here is going to play the blame game. And I don't blame you! I love to play the blame game too! So… who are you blaming this time?"

"Tikal," Blaze said. "I think it's very obvious that it's Tikal."

"Whoa, really? Miss Goody-Two-Shoes herself?"

"N-No! She's… she's wrong!" Tikal said, putting her hands over her head. "I would never!"

"I'm inclined to believe you, Tikal…" Amy said. "But… there is a lot of evidence. And you can't remember what happened last night."

"Amy, how dare you! I… you know I would never!"

"That's enough," Vector said, arms crossed. Tikal began to cry.

"Why… why don't you all believe me?..."

It broke my heart to see Tikal like this. Unfortunately, so much about this case made it seem like she did it. But was she responsible?

"I believe you, Tikal," I said. "However, for this to be a fair trial, we do need your testimony. That includes every detail, even the stuff you don't want to admit. If you aren't the true killer, I think it would be in your best interest to disprove it rather than cry about it, right?"

Tikal looked at me, wiping her eyes.

"You're… you're right…" she said, sniffing. "I'll… I'll disprove it!"

"How foolish… believing someone when they're lying… That's why men like you are so weak," Blaze said. I ignored her comments, knowing full well she wanted to get Tikal for… some reason. Then again, to be fair, I think there's always someone here who accuses another without any rhyme or reason.

"So, where should we start?" Silver asked. "There weren't a lot of clues, were there?"

"The thing we need to answer is mainly what was left at the scene," Wave said. "Charmy, mind telling us for the class?"

There she was, passing everything onto me… Of course, it was easy to know what it was.

"It's the prayer beads found in the music room, right?" I asked.

"Exactly. We first need to talk about how and why they were left there."

Our first discussion had to start somewhere… and I knew I'd find a truth eventually!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT**

With that weird voice telling me that again, it was time for our first argument.

"The biggest thing that convicts you is the prayer beads you left in the music room. Why would you bother leaving them there?" Blaze asked, covering her mouth.

"I-I never put them there!" Tikal argued back, eyes closed.

"Tikal... you said you were the Ultimate Pacifist... why would you kill him?" Amy added, holding her hand to her chest.

"I never did! I was framed!"

"Tikal, calm down. Tell us, did you take your beads with you or not?" Espio asked.

"I... I didn't!"

"No, that's wrong!" I said, knowing full well she was lying ALREADY. This didn't look good for her at all. "Tikal, are you sure you REALLY wanna say you didn't take your beads with you when you ADMITTED you did it? That just contradicted your testimony!"

"I… I…" Tikal looked to the ground. "I'm not…"

"Tikal, look at me," Vector said. She ignored him. "Ignorin' me ain't gonna fix the issue. Yer prayer beads were on the floor, found by Charmy. Yer tryin' to deny that you didn't go to the music room without bringin' them. Are ya tryin' to say that someone took them out of yer room and planted them there?"

The orange echidna continued to ignore Vector.

"Tikal, answer the question," Espio said.

"F-Fine… Yes… I took my prayer beads there," she replied.

"And were they in yer pocket or in yer hand?" Vector added.

"In… in my pocket. B-But please! Don't think I'm the killer based on that sole fact alone! I'm not! I promise!"

"No one said anything though…" Silver said, hands on his hips.

"I just… I don't remember waking up initially realizing they were gone until I woke up during the morning announcement. I spent a good ten minutes looking around my room, but I couldn't find the beads. I thought I lost them but-"

"That's enough from you," Wave said.

"Huh?"

"What pacifist girl is saying right now is that she was told to come to the music room, where she woke up without her prayer beads when she claims she had taken them when she was baited to come out."

"Baited?" Blaze asked.

"Oh, you don't know? Well, why don't we make that the next thing we need to talk about? Namely, what reason DID Tikal have to go to the music room after we had all gone to bed?"

"Maybe it was to kill Big?" Silver asked. "I mean, she was told to come there and she went without any rhyme or reason. Of course, she could have been attacked too."

"Oh, but you had such a good point, Silver. And yet, you fall at the end. To even think that Tikal was a victim is just foolish," Blaze replied.

"What makes you so certain?" Espio asked.

"If she was attacked, why would the killer just leave her beads there? Were they that inept and forgot?"

Blaze was arguing that the killer just left the beads there just because they forgot. But in reality…

"No, the killer left the beads there because they wanted to frame Tikal," I replied.

"To… frame Tikal?"

"I think that leads us into who the victim is in this case. As we know, Big is the one who died, but what we need to figure out is: was he murdered, or was this an act of suicide?" Wave said. "After all, it does seem very impractical that Tikal just so happened to be called by Big."

"Whoa, that happened? First time I'm hearing of it!" Silver said.

"Charmy, if you would be so kind, why don't you inform us about what the note said?"

Passing it to me again as usual… However, it wasn't a BIG issue.

"The note said to meet Big at the music room and to specifically, bring her prayer beads and her room key. Notably, there isn't a time listed on the note, so it can't be deducted just what time it was when Tikal was called over by Big."

"Very well, then perhaps let's talk about this note more."

I scratched my chin. Would the note have more clues? There wasn't enough detail for me to make a judgement on it but… I had to be faithful that I could find something!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"It seems that Big used this note to call out Tikal. But why?" Wave began.

"I think it was because he really DID need Tikal's help, but she double crossed him!" Silver said, pointing at the orange echidna.

Tikal covered her mouth. "I... I wouldn't think of such a thing!" she said.

"Maybe it was because he wanted to kill Tikal?" Blaze asked, head tilted.

"That's an interesting idea. But could he be the one who got the murder weapon?" Espio asked.

"So, it seems like it's self-defense. Well Tikal? You know what happened to Tails..."

I thought about this one hard. There didn't seem to be any statement that I could refute easily. Silver claimed that Tikal might have double crossed Big, while Espio was asking if he was the one responsible for getting the syringe. Now that I thought about it, the idea that BIG could have had it now came into my mind. It was however, what Espio said that got me thinking more. Could he be the one to get the syringe? Not just that but the poison in the chem lab…

I thought back to what we found there: the sandals, and it clicked.

"No, that's wrong!"

Espio looked at me. "Hm? I'm… wrong?"

"There's something that might prove as to why Big didn't get the murder weapon," I said.

"Before that, I think it's important we actually talk about that," Amy said. "So uh… what was the murder weapon again?"

"The EggPAD said it was a slow-moving poison that was injected in Big's eye via syringe," Tikal replied. "Charmy, does Big not have anything to do with the weapon?"

"Oh, how ridiculous," Blaze said. "I don't see a compelling argument in saying Big didn't get the weapon. After all, we still don't know if it was the killer or Big who got the weapon. For all we know, he could have."

Everyone here still seems to think that Big got the syringe. But… I knew otherwise. As I thought about it more, there was something that clicked into my mind. I refuted Espio's statement by saying it couldn't have been Big due to the sandals. And… and now that I thought back to it… what I found at the scene before the investigation was over…

"Now I understand!" I said. "The thing that proves Big didn't do it!"

"Hm? What now" Blaze asked.

"If you want the proof, it's in the protein powder in the chem lab!"

Vector smiled. "Good job, Charmy. I knew you'd come to that conclusion."

"I'm sorry, protein powder?" Wave asked.

"When Vector, Espio, and I were doing our investigation, I noticed that there was a can of protein power that was tipped over in Shelf A of the chem lab. Later, when we returned, I had finally noticed that there was powder on the floor with footprints on it. Vector took me away from the powder, not knowing if it was poison or harmless, but I have every right to believe that the spill is proof that he didn't get it!"

"And yet, weren't his footprints there?" Amy asked.

"See… that's the thing, and this is me just talking out of my ass, but I think even Big would know not to step in a mess and to clean it up. Rather, the mess was just left there and footprints were left in the powder without realizing how incriminating it would be if we were able to match who's shoes they are!"

"I'm sorry to ruin your little tirade, but that's where your reasoning ends," Blaze smiled. "As I'm sure you know, Big is not the brightest creature here. Even if he DID make a mess, it does seem in character of him to just foolishly forget to clean his mess up. You'll come to learn that with Big, unless you tell him things very slowly, he'll do the opposite of what you ask."

She still was not convinced. No, there was one way I could get her to change her mind!

"Goodness…" she shook her head. "You have it all wrong! I can't agree with anything you're saying so far. After all, lies won't get you anywhere. I mean, listen to yourself. Are you CERTAIN that Big wasn't the one that put his footprints into that powder?"

I pointed right at Blaze. "This should prove it! It's the location of the sandals!"

The cat looked a little unhinged, likely not expecting to be bested. "The… location?"

"Espio found the sandals behind one of the sink stations and right near the powder on the floor. If we take that into consideration, why would you even try to bother hiding it in such an obvious location? Even if Big did it, he would realize he would have to cover up his tracks. No... I think that instead, someone grabbed Big's sandals and put them on to make it seem like it was Big who grabbed the poison from the shelf!"

"So what? Was it Tikal or the killer?"

"It can't be Tikal. Lest we forget to mention that she was attacked, there's one thing that might prove as to why she couldn't have done it. It's that for her to have gotten Big's sandals, she would have to attack Big, take his sandals off his body, spill the powder onto the floor, press the soles of the sandals onto the powder, and just toss them aside. But combine that with all the other planning you'd have to do, doesn't that seem unnecessarily complex?"

"Exactly! There's no way I could have mastered something like this!" Tikal argued back.

"May I remind you that there's a lot about last night that you don't remember? You still are a suspect, pacifist girl," Wave replied. "There still could be a chance that you could have done it."

The echidna didn't argue back, but only hung her head.

"I don't think so," I said. "There's still ONE more thing that might prove how Tikal isn't the one involved. Namely… it's the dolly."

"The… dolly?" Silver asked.

"I only told this to Vector, Espio, and Charmy…" Amy said. "I woke up this morning in the office on the fourth floor, where I found a dolly right next to my body. I noticed the tip of the dolly had a little bit of blood too, sorry for not mentioning that, you three…"

"And… what does that prove?" Wave asked.

"It means that likely, someone used the dolly from the third floor and attacked someone, then placed it in the office, not thinking anyone would find it," I replied.

"Then… it means Tikal was attacked with the dolly?" Silver asked.

"Well, let's ask her more about it. Tikal, would you be so kind?" Espio added.

The echidna girl looked at her feet. "Oh fine, very well."

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Tikal, what do you remember about the dolly?" Espio began.

"I… I remember something blue like the dolly coming towards my face. That's all I remember from the music room before I woke up in my bed," Tikal replied.

Vector adjusted his hat. "For someone to bleed onto a dolly, they would have to use brute force. Meaning that the possibility of Big attacking Tikal isn't out of the question."

"But my question is, how could he have done it? Wouldn't he have had to find a way to make Tikal turn around?" Blaze asked, putting her finger on her lips.

"I bet she was attacked while trying to open the door!" Silver exclaimed.

"That does sound like a possibility. She wouldn't be able to see behind her!" Amy said putting her hands together. Right away, I already knew which statement was wrong.

"Silver, no."

"Oh please, I think someone telling him no to anything is what we all need," Blaze joked. I ignored her, however.

"I wanna talk about the prayer beads so I can prove that she wasn't attacked as soon as she entered the door. Egg Robo, can you provide a picture?"

The robot looked up from his game, then looked back down, bringing down the four-sided monitor and displaying a picture of the scene at the music room.

"See right here? I'd wager that Tikal was attacked at most, maybe ten or eleven feet away from the door? That explains why the beads right here…" I buzzed to the middle of the podiums, pointing at the prayer beads to show everyone. "…signify that she was attacked just a couple of seconds into being in the room. If she was attacked when she opened the door, then the prayer beads would stay at the foot of the door."

Everyone was silent as they looked at me.

"What?"

"Charmy… you… yeh are aware Silver was referrin' to the door in the music room, right?" Vector asked.

"The… door?"

"The door to the second-floor dorms! Remember?" the silver hedgehog said.

"Oh… uh… wait I can explain!"

"No can do, Charmy!" Egg Robo said. "That's a penalty for you!"

I saw a red X pop up on my stand, startling me.

"W-What the heck is this?!" I said

"Whenever you suck at your argument, like you did just now, you'll get that X! Get five X's and the trial is over with! But if you answer arguments right, maybe I'll get rid of half of an X. Just once per correct argument!"

 _"Damn…"_ I thought to myself. _"I messed up royally there. And to think he meant THAT door. Think Charmy, think! How could Tikal not be attacked while opening the door?"_

It didn't take me long to find a way.

"Wait a minute, I just know how!"

"Is it actually correct this time, or are you wasting our time?" Wave asked.

"I'm not doing that! Nope, I think I know how, and I can prove it in the same false argument I gave!"

"You can?" Silver asked.

"Remember what I said about Tikal being attacked in the first few seconds of being in the room? One thing I failed to mention that was in her testimony was that she heard something rattling on the other side of the room. Since she was only there, we can disprove the theory that she was there actually trying to open the door."

"Then… does that mean… three people were there?!" Amy asked.

"It's startin' to look that way. Now, whether if it was Big or this third person who was either openin' the door or attackin' Tikal, we dunno," Vector replied.

"Not to mention, if Tikal WAS trying to open the door, well… just even think about that idea! Tikal isn't strong enough to open that by herself!" I argued.

"That… okay, I can't argue against that," the echidna added.

"So then, who could have tried to open the door?" Amy asked.

"The thing 'bout the knob is how messed up it was," Vector replied. "For it to just turn 360 degrees would require someone so strong that they can unhinge the knob like it's nothin'."

"So, is that confirmed that Big was the one opening the door? He did have a fair amount of strength," Espio said.

"I doubt it. Even IF Big did destroy the doorknob, that doesn't mean he's the one trying to open the door," Blaze replied. "Didn't you all learn that during our last case? Just because someone does something doesn't mean they're automatically the suspect."

She then smiled. "Besides, Tikal can't say who attacked her. All she heard was rattling. There's still a chance that the impact from the dolly made her forget what she saw specifically once she woke up that night."

"Hey… now that I think about it…" Amy said. "Tikal, what time did you wake up?"

"Huh?... What time did I wake up?" she replied. "Well, I got the note I'd say an hour after we returned to our rooms last night. When I woke up back in my room… I wasn't sure."

"An hour after?" Vector asked.

"I guess I asked cause isn't it a little weird how the EggPAD has nothing on what time everything took place? Like, no time that Tikal OR Big was attacked…"

"…this means we all dun have a solid alibi."

"Come again?" Blaze asked.

"Yeh heard me. If that's the time that Tikal said she got the note, then none of us have an alibi. That means we need to provide what we were doin' after we, quote unquote, returned to our rooms."

"And we need to talk about who last saw Big, right?" Silver asked.

"That's correct."

"Well, count my lo mein noodles right! It just so happens that I can tell you my alibi last night!"

"Count my… oh goodness you make me cringe," Wave winced.

Silver says he has an alibi for last night. But… is this going to solve anything?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUEMENT**

"Just last night, I happened to see Big approach Blaze!" Silver began.

"I see... this means that Silver and Blaze would have to be the last people to see Big before today..." Vector noted, scratching his chin.

Amy turned her head. "And? What did they talk about?"

"I... dunno... I'm not sure what they talked about..." Silver scratched the back of his head.

"What did you talk about, Blaze?" Tikal asked.

"He asked me about the doorknob, because I had given up on opening it. And, he also asked about... the chem lab," Blaze replied.

"Th-the chem lab?!" Amy looked afraid upon hearing the news.

"So, you're saying that Big had this all planned out? Guess he wasn't so useless after all..." Wave said, finishing our debate.

"No, that's wrong!"

Everyone turned to face me, as if they weren't expecting me to say that.

"Wrong? What's gotten into you, bee?" she replied.

"It's that Big didn't have this planned out. And we know this because of the evidence shown in the trial!"

"And that evidence is?..."

"The sandals!"

"Okay then, enlighten me. How DO the sandals prove that he didn't plan this out?"

"Remember what we said during this trial? We stated that Big is at least smart enough to know not to step on a spill and doing so would immediately prove that he spilled the protein powder. That means that the footprints were someone who had grabbed Big's sandals, wore them, and made it so that it seemed like Big was there in the chem lab, and then threw his sandals with no real care."

"That's true, b-but what if he took them off?" Tikal asked.

"Then the outline of his foot would be on there, not his sandals," Vector replied. Blaze looked a little troubled when I saw her.

"I never thought it would come to this…" she sighed.

"Huh?"

"You see, I have proof that Big DID go to the chem lab. Which is why he asked me about it."

"You do?!" Espio questioned.

"This," Blaze held up a small bottle, the size of an essential oil bottle. "I happened to find this in the pocket of Big's jacket. I opened it up and it's very much yellow."

"Why didn't ya tell us about this?!" Vector asked.

"Because quite frankly, I was waiting for this moment."

"B-But… why was it there in the first place?" Silver asked.

"Because, you fool, this is clearly the poison that killed him. I'd be willing to take a drink to prove that it is the poison, but if you all came over and smelled it, it's no doubt poison."

I scratched my chin and looked up at Blaze. "Just so we're clear… Blaze, would that happen to be liquid arsenic? LD50 level, 0.000001?"

"I quite frankly don't know what those numbers mean, but… if that's the toxin in question, then yes, I do believe that this is it."

But now this opened a new can of worms. Why was this in Big's pocket? Did he REALLY go to the chem lab? Did he willfully step on the protein powder? So many questions sprung into my thoughts as a result of this new find. I didn't even know where to begin.

But still… there was one question in particular to rock my mind.

"Hey Blaze, you said you found it in his jacket pocket, right?"

"That… is correct," she replied.

"And that whole time, Tikal was with you, right? Tikal, did she ever look at Big's body? We never got the chance to examine the body until the end of the investigation."

"Well, there was some time that I was out of the dining hall, so hearing that… it's likely that she found the bottle while I was out," Tikal replied.

I shut my eyes. While that does sound convenient, I couldn't help but feel like there was more.

"Blaze, do you mind telling us a bit more about the bottle?" I asked.

"I see no problem in doing such a thing."

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT**

"This bottle... is no doubt the poison used to attack Big," Blaze began. "I think that he grabbed it from the chem lab... got a syringe from the nurse's office, and was ready to most likely kill Tikal with it, until either she attacked him in self-defense, or he killed himself and attacked Tikal to make it seem like she did it. Did I get that right?"

"No, I dun think so. Because, where was this bottle the whole time after Big was attacked? You said yeh found it on Big's corpse, right?" Vector asked.

"Then how exactly did it wind up on his body?" Espio added. Blaze looked at the two.

"Ah, that's easy to answer. It was hidden away in the box of syringes," Blaze replied

"That does seem like a good hiding spot..." Tikal said. But as I reviewed each statement, something about Blaze's bothered me.

 _"Hidden away in a box of syringes?"_ I thought. It then suddenly dawned on me.

"No, that's wrong!"

"Who's wrong? Me, or the killer here, Tikal?" Blaze asked.

"You. It WASN'T found in a box of syringes. First, what are you even talking about? Unless you're thinking of the biohazard box in the infirmary, there was no box of syringes in there. It was only syringes everywhere on the counter. And second, Vector, Espio, and I examined the box and found no poison like that."

"That's because I imagine at this point, Big had already taken back the poison."

"Tell us, WHERE did you find the bottle?"

"I said I found it on his fucking BODY you idiot!" she said, covering her mouth. "Ahem… pardon me about the outburst… I found it during the investigation when Tikal left the room, yes."

Vector looked at her. "Blaze, can yeh do me a favor? Bring the poison over here."

"Why?..."

"I wanna prove something I'm thinkin' 'bout."

"Well, if it will help you sleep at night…"

The cat walked over to the crocodile and handed him the small bottle of poison. He sniffed it, and then…

Took one big gulp.

"V-VECTOR?!" I yelled.

"What on earth have you just done?!" Espio questioned.

"E-Egg Robo! Stop the trial! He's gonna die!" Silver yelled.

"What are we gonna do?" Amy added.

"Oh… oh no no no noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Tikal bemoaned, hands over her head. It wasn't until he began smacking his lips…

"I knew it."

"Knew what?..." I asked in the middle of my panic attack.

"This ain't the poison. It's water with yellow food coloring."

"W-Water with food coloring?" Espio questioned.

"Blaze, I'm gonna ask yeh again: WHERE did yeh find this?"

"On his body, I still stand by that."

He looked at her, then the rest of us. "Yeh see guys, the reason that this ain't it is cause it's just water with food coloring. As we established, the substance used to kill Big was liquid arsenic, LD50 level 0.000001."

"Probably one of the most dangerous things here…" Wave said. "With LD50 levels like those, you can easily kill someone quickly in spite of arsenic being such a slow-moving poison."

"Blaze… did you know that wasn't poison? You said so yourself that it is," I asked. Blaze however, continued to smile.

"No, I didn't. I just assumed it was. When you see something of that color, I'm sure you can understand why I made that mistake, no?"

I didn't believe her. She touted it as the truth and just so conveniently found it when Tikal left the room.

"Hey, tell us about WHAT you and Big were talking about last night. What was he asking about when he brought up the chem lab?"

"Must you be so nosy that you want to know EVERYTHING?"

"Nosy as in, we NEED to know everythin'?" Vector asked.

"Oh fine, I'll tell you. Last night, Big came to me some time after we all left to our rooms and I had decided to head to the bathhouse for a quick face wash. He asked about the doorknob and knew that I had failed to open it, and he said he wanted to try it out as well but was too scared to do so by himself and asked me to come along with him. I told him that boys his age shouldn't fear such nonsense and was about to walk off when he asked me about the chem lab. Now, truth be told, I've never been in there, but I just told him he's likely to find cleaning solutions, vitamins, or even deadly chemicals there. It was then that he walked off and I returned to my room. Did that help out?"

"Well, guys? I think she revealed what her and Big were talking about," Silver said. "Ha ha, and here I was thinking you guys were planning a double murder!"

"Yeah… it does give us some relief, however we still-" Tikal said before being interrupted by Vector.

"No we don't."

"Huh?!"

"Blaze… I think yer lyin' again."

"Oh, what is it with you not believing me? It must be very lonely to doubt everything you've heard so far," she replied. "Does it feel good, this questioning? Well? Does it?!"

"It ain't questionin', when there's one big flaw."

"There is?" I questioned.

"Well, tell us then, Vector. What was the flaw?!" Blaze hissed.

"I think there's more that happened. Is that more, or not?"

"I told you everything that pertains to this case! What else do you need?!"

"Fer yeh to answer truthfully."

Blaze held her shoulders and sighed. "I swear, you are the embodiment of the phrase, No Fun Allowed…"

"So yeh do admit it."

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not telling you because I was caught, but because I might as well clear it up. Yes, there was a little bit more besides what I told you."

A little bit more?... I wonder what she meant by this?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So…" Blaze began. "Big did come to me last night about the doorknob, but as for the poison... it is true that he wouldn't have known about that, therefore whoever is the killer planted the vial with the water on Big's body, posing it as the poison."

"But why bother leaving something so obvious?" Silver asked, hands on his hips.

"Yeah! Whose idea was it to kill Big then leave incriminating evidence?" Amy added.

"Whoever was the person that did so, they wanted everyone to think that the poison was the one on his body. If you see a liquid with an odd color in such a vial, I'm sure you too would feel like it's dangerous. After all, someone opened the packet of needles with the vial itself." Blaze replied.

Vector lowered his gaze. "With the vial?"

"Yes. The top portion of the vial is sharp enough to do so."

Huh?...

Now that I was able to get a good look at the vial… was it? I didn't seem to agree with that statement, but also... How was Blaze adamant that it was the vial that opened the bag of syringes that we found in the infirmary?

I knew I had to press her on it.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Hold on there, Blaze. How are you so certain that it was the vial that opened up the bag of syringes in the infirmary?"

"Reading the EggPAD, it says that a bag of syringes was left open there. If you even look at the picture, it definitely looks like this could be used to open it up."

"You'd rather use a vial than your own teeth or nails?"

"Pardon?"

"Look at the way the bag looks," I said as the four-sided monitor came down, displaying an image of the bag. See? Look at the way the bag is torn. I don't think a vial would make the tear in the bag that straight. I think it would go all over the place."

"Fair enough, but what type of conclusion are you trying to make from this?"

"It's that someone used their nails to cut the bag open."

"Charmy, I think yer startin' to get closer as to findin' out who did it, no?"

"I think so…"

"Can we already make a conclusion though?" Amy asked. "There's still so much we don't know though! It feels like not much time has passed with this trial!"

"I think with less people here, we're not wastin' as much time crackin' dumb jokes or bein' idiots. We wanna solve this case as much as everyone else."

"You should be proud, Silver," Wave said. "You're actually not wasting our time for once in your life. You're staying good and silent, and only talking to bring up some things."

"Wow, thanks for the second compliment you've given me!" the silver hedgehog grinned. "I mean, I feel like I really got to know more! Even if it came at the expense of being confused as to who was at the chem lab!"

"…and now, I suddenly feel like taking back my compliment."

"Anyway… even if it wasn't long, we did discover quite a few things. We did theorize that Big didn't likely go to the chem lab, Tikal was baited into coming into the music room, and the various things left at the scenes," Espio said.

"Hey, now that I think about it, we mentioned the biohazard box earlier, didn't we? What does that have to do with the case?" Tikal asked.

"If I had to guess… I bet that the biohazard box was opened early on to allow the killer to open the syringes and needles and just leave them out without care, likely assuming no one would check there. Which means… the killer had access to both prior to your attack."

"Well, that's fine and dandy, but what's to come from this? Who is the murderer?" Silver asked.

Who was the murderer…?


	32. Chapter 4 (Class Trial (Part 2))

_Who was the murderer?_

That was still the question none of us knew the answer to. But… I had to look at a few considerations. First, there were three people in the music room: Tikal, Big, and one other person. This other person had to have gotten access to the biohazard box in the infirmary prior to the murder, and most importantly, they had to fake evidence…

When I thought over that last part, with everything I knew, as well as a connection to the killer…

I had my answer.

"If you want my opinion…" I said. "There's… only one person I can think of that could be the murderer if we look at everything. Biggest of them all, who has the most connection to Big?"

We all looked around. "I think it got you all thinking, right? And it has me thinking too, because I believe our guilty one… I believe that it's Blaze…"

"Huh? Blaze?" Amy questioned. The cat put her hand over her mouth.

"Ah, so it appears that I'm the suspicious one?"

"I mean, Blaze? I dunno… it seems like… I think I need a bit more convincing on this one."

"I don't blame you if it feels wrong, Amy," she smiled. "Hu hu hu… I do hate this kind of joke after all…"

Wave looked at her. "A joke? I wonder…"

Blaze stared at her feet and then back to me. "So… If I understand this, Charmy; you're claiming that I'm the person who talked with Big into appeared with him in the music room, calling Tikal out, and then proceeded to kill Big after knocking out Tikal, all thanks to my cunning plan of making it seem like Big did it, is that correct?"

"Yeah," I replied. "The package of the needles were opened with what clearly looked like a nail, the convenience of you finding the "poison" on Big's body, plus your plan to call Tikal out by making sure she brought her prayer beads and to ultimately backstab Big and pin the crime on her."

"I mean, seriously… do ask yourself this. I know that Big was my eternal servant, but we have no formal relationship besides that. Besides, the idea that I would spend my time interacting with him outside of our established relationship that I own him…"

And then, her expression changed to that of pure malice as she showed her fangs. "That I would spend, even ten seconds with that… SHIT FOR BRAINS, FAT TUB OF LARD, THAT LAZY, WORTHLESS, GODDAMN IDIOT!

She then coughed as she put on a smiling face. "Ahem… pardon me, I just let out a bit of steam right there. I guess you can say this accusation has me a little frightened, even if I'm not the killer."

"You're not?" Wave asked. "I actually agree with the bee this time. There IS evidence to support it."

"There is?"

"Exactly. One thing we haven't brought up regarding the note is what else Tikal was requested to bring alongside her prayer beads. Naturally, it was her room key. If I had to guess, she was requested to bring the room key so that once she was knocked out and her prayer beads were planted at the scene, you or Big would transport her body back to her room and use her room key to place her back in bed. That's why the next thing she remembers after waking up from your attack was her waking up in her room and groggy, not sure about where she was. If she WASN'T told to bring her room key, then she would have no reason to bring it, therefore, ruining the plans of the killer if she woke up and took back her beads. Put that part together, and you have an ugly picture. Wouldn't you agree, Blaze?"

The cat smiled. "I have no idea what you mean."

"Don't even bother trying to deny it."

"Wait a moment!" Tikal said. "I know we're trying to argue that Blaze was the one who opened the packet of needles, but couldn't it have been Big?"

"My, it's so kind of you to defend me from these terrible accusations in spite of you being the killer, Tikal,"

"Ya can try to hide from the truth, Blaze, but it ain't gonna work on me. How 'bout we try a different approach? Namely, why doncha tell us where you were after the nighttime announcement and after Silver saw you with Big?" Vector asked. Blaze simply held her arm, which I wasn't sure if that meant she was okay with it or not.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Yes, I remember now. Around that time after Big left, my head was hurting, so I decided to get medicine from the Nurse's Office. When I got there, I noticed that the box was shut closed. However, during my investigation, it was opened. This would mean that after I left, someone would have had to open it," Blaze began.

"Now, if this is your claim, this would mean the killer was waiting for you to make your move. Tell me, what time do you think it was opened?" Wave

"Around the time of the murder naturally. If you ask me about what happened... The killer grabbed the syringe, cleaned up after themselves, and then returned to the music room to execute their plan, leading to Big waking up at daybreak."

"So that means... whoever killed him only took out the evidence to make it seem like I killed him?" Tikal asked.

"Oh, but you did, didn't you?"

I looked at Blaze intently. She said one thing that I took immediate notice of: the statement: "The killer cleaned up after themselves".

"No, that's wrong!"

The lavender cat looked more and more annoyed, but she still refused to say anything.

"Blaze, you're claiming that the killer cleaned up after themselves… but how on earth does that explain the mess left on the table? Remember what Tikal said? She said that needles were strewn all over the table and bags were cut open, left out without any real care. If the killer cleaned up after themselves, wouldn't they have to put everything back where they found it in the biohazard box?"

Blaze still said nothing, but then… giggled.

"You all have such vivid minds," she said. "At this point, it's almost comical how much you're keeping up this charade that I'm really the killer."

"Charade?" Wave asked.

"Tikal DID bring up the possibility that it was Big who opened the bags found in the infirmary. With that knowledge, how could I have opened them?"

"Well, where were you after you left Big?" Espio replied.

"Back in my room naturally."

"Are yeh certain?" Vector added.

"Of course. I never stepped foot into that chem lab, nor did I write that message. Besides, you all know my personal relationship with Big. Why would I suddenly want to go for him when there's plenty of other people I could go after, like that unfortunate soul, Silver?"

"Did… did you just confess to wanting to kill me?" the silver hedgehog asked.

"No one's killin' anyone," the crocodile replied. "Regardless, I dun think yer tellin' the truth."

"Then shut your mouth and let me explain in fine detail so I can explain it for your slow mind," Blaze snapped back. I heard Silver going 'OOOOOOH!" like a preteen as Vector looked unphased.

Was there a new key that had to be found? One that we weren't sure of yet? Blaze said she can tell us where she really was, but… can I disprove it?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"With Tikal having no memory of who attacked her, and us being unable to determine a killer… to say that I'm the killer based on a few factors is so incorrect," Blaze began.

"And yet, you falsified evidence," Vector replied.

"My apologies, was I supposed to know that whatever Big puts on his body is legitimate? I wasn't there you know."

"So, where do we go from here?" Amy asked. "Are we really back to square one in spite of some evidence stacking up on Blaze?"

"Very false evidence that can be disproven no less."

"Could… could this be it? Could this be the day the blackened gets away?" Tikal asked, sniffing. I shook my head.

No… No it wasn't going to be it. Because that one-line seals the deal!

"Blaze, no!" I yelled.

"Honestly, your little game of-"

"Shut up, let me talk."

I could hear Silver snicker in the background.

"Know what's my proof regarding Big not having the poison on him? There's two factors, the first being the sandals."

"What is it with you and sandals?! Must I get you a pair for your sandal fetish?"

"No need for a pair when I have my second evidence right here! We need to talk about YOUR statement. As you said, you claimed Big had asked about the room in the music room. But, when you went to the infirmary that night, the box was open. If he didn't care about getting caught, why leave that all open?"

"Grr…" she growled, likely realizing her mistake.

"Oh, I see! So, she went to the biohazard box and got what she needed, and likely didn't expect anyone to come in so they left everything strewn across the room.

"Ng… nggh argh…!"

"So… if I'm getting this right… Blaze was the first one to arrive in the infirmary, got what she needed and left it there, and to cover up her tracks, she used Big as a dummy. She then attacked Tikal to make it seem like she was the responsible one!" Amy said,

"Well then, I think this is far clearer and definitely shines a lot more of a light. We proved that Big nor Tikal entered the chem lab, and that the killer left the infirmary a mess due to their overall stupidity," Wave replied. "Blaze, I thought you were smarter then this. But… I suppose this is checkmate."

Blaze, who's eye had been twitching, simply grabbed onto the handle of the stand. She exhaled, put her hand over her mouth, and…

"Hm… ha ha…. Ah ha ha haaa… ha ha… ha ha…"

Just when we thought everything was finished, the expression on Blaze's face grew violently angry. "DON'T MAKE YOU LAUGH, YOU IDIOT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN CHECKMATE?!"

"B-Blaze?..." Tikal asked, looking frightful.

"CLEARLY, you all have this little vendetta and wanna cram me into your little guilty box," she said with venom in her voice, her fangs in clear view. "WELL, there's just ONE…. LITTLE… PROBLEM! Have you already forgotten what Big said when he was dying?!"

That's right… we hadn't talked about his dying words. "Ti…. Kah…"

I noted that it sounded a little weird he was saying it but… I still wasn't sure WHY. Was it the poison slurring the way he said Tikal's name?

"Oh yes everyone," Blaze said in an emotional, happy-go-lucky tone. "When we asked him who had attacked him, his answer was clear, wasn't it? He said that it was starting with Ti and had a ka in it. Ti?! And who else has a name that starts with Ti?! THAT'S RIGHT! In other words, he was talking about Tikal the Echidna!"

"No!" Tikal cried. "It wasn't me!"

Vector looked at Blaze. "He did say the name started with Ti, but was Tikal WHO he really meant?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Blaze asked. "DON'T FORGET THAT I HAVE PYROKINESIS YOU OVERGROWN PIECE OF MEAT!"

"I'm in agreement. No one else has-" I added before being interrupted by Vector.

"Think back to how Big used to refer to all of us. HOW did he call us?"

How? Well, he was a very formal person, always using Mr and Ms, and… referring to us by…

Oh…

Oh no.

My eyes widened when I realized it. How could I have not realized it? Big was so formal that he not only uses Mr and Ms, but he referred to ALL of us with our full title. Mr. Charmy Bee, Mr. Vector the Crocodile, Ms. Amy Rose, and so on. If he MEANT to say Tikal, he's say… Ms. Tikal the Echidna. But he knew how to say Tikal's name. And… the kah… the kah he pronounced… it sounded like…

"Now ya finally get it," Vector replied.

"I didn't even think of it…" I said.

"To think that it was him trying to be formal that was the key," Wave added.

"I'm… out of the loop here. What's going on?"

As Tikal explained it to him, Vector continued. "I heard him plenty of times say Mr. Charmy Bee. If he DID mean to say Tikal, then he wouldda pronounced it right! Just cause he was dyin' ain't proof enough that he couldn't forget how to say Tikal's name!"

"Okay?!" Blaze retorted back. "Just because it doesn't always happen doesn't mean that it couldn't happen PERIOD! Remember, the man was poisoned and slurring his words! Pronouncing the last two syllables in Tikal's name wrong if you're in pain makes sense! It was… incidental!"

"Indecent?" Silver asked. Wave scoffed.

"Shut up."

"Now look at yeh now. Random chance. Ain't that one real kicker?" Vector asked. "Nah, I dun think that he suddenly forgot how to pronounce Tikal. She has such a unique name that after days of being around her, ya don't forget it. What I think happened is that Big tried to name our killer, but due to the poison, put his mind in a daze and his body beyond weak and unable to finish his statement."

"Do you think that Big was trying to tell us maybe not the first name of someone… but both first and last?" I asked. "That kah part still bothers me. He didn't pronounce it like kaa."

"The problem here is that the name Big provided doesn't apply to anyone here," Espio replied. "No one has a name like that. It's like… now that I see it, it's like the first name is Ti, and the species is… cat. Doesn't kah and cat match?"

That's when I stopped to think for a minute. I thought back to my first encounter with Blaze. The constant vagueness around her, this, that, and the other…

"No."

Everyone turned to face me.

"There's… one person. One person who I can think of. It's Blaze… countless times again, she's teased the idea that Blaze ISN'T her real name. She made such a big deal about it that looking back… it's obvious that she wanted us to see her as Blaze and not as what her TRUE name is!"

"Wh… what did you say?!" Blaze snarled. "This is… this is a mistake!"

"Fat chance," Vector replied. "His dyin' message didn't name Tikal…"

"…but someone who's first two letters in their name was Ti, and who was a cat," Espio replied. Blaze was fuming at this point.

"To think… to think that you all have taken your false accusations this far, I don't know whether to LAUGH OR SPIT!"

Her face changed again to one of pure malice as she showed her fangs. "I mean COME ON! Enough with your blather! Anyone who's name even STARTS with Ti is a complete loser! Now, tell me this: Do I look like a loser to you?!" she threw her arms up as her face grew even more enraged. "WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL?! DO I?!"

She took a deep breath. "WHAT?... I… think.. you understand WHY I'm on edge!"

I wasn't phased by her outburst. She was only digging herself a deeper hole.

"Okay then. Tell us: what's your REAL name?" I asked.

"FINE! Make sure, those dumbo earholes of yours are WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE open and LISTEN UP!" she screamed at me. "My real name is Blaze the Cat, now will you PLEASE stop making me repeat myself over and over again?!"

Blaze continued to deny it no matter what evidence we found. This meant… I had to get her to confess truth!"

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"As Big lay dying on the dining hall floor, he left us with one final message: the name of the true killer. Someone who's name began with Ti," Vector began.

"We've already established that it couldn't be Tikal, not just our evidence, but mainly because of the way Big pronounced it as he died. If he meant to say Tikal, then he would have pronounced the ka in her name like kah, instead of cah, as if to say… cat," Espio added.

"So, if there's one person who could potentially fit that description based on that…" Amy replied.

"Then Blaze... I think it's you. You've implied before that 'Blaze' is just a nickname. So... what IS your real name?" Tikal held her hands together.

Blaze held her arm as she refused to look us in the eye. "Shut it you murderer... how many times do I have to tell you? My... name... is... " Her face of malice came back. "BLAZE THE CAT GOD DAMN IT!"

"This is embarrassing," Wave crossed her arms. "Stop pretending and end this little charade of yours right now."

"Oh, I'M not pretending! It's the truth! And since you have no way to contradict me... THAT'S THE ONLY TRUTH THERE IS, YOU DEEP FRIED MORON!"

"Hey, I'm the only one who should get that title!" Silver added. Before not even one more thing could be said.

"No, that's wrong!"

Everyone turned to face me as I held up my PAD.

"This is the last piece of evidence! The PAD!"

"WHAT?!" Blaze screamed.

"Did we all forget that anytime you turn your PAD on, it displays the name of its user? We used that back during Trial 1 and 2 to figure out Tails' true name, and how Shadow really had Tails' PAD."

"Oh yeah! I remember that!" Silver said. "Man, isn't it weird how the PAD always seems to come back up over and over again in these trials?"

"It didn't hide Tails OR Shadow's secret, Egg Robo told us before that it displays the name when we first arrived, right? That means if we SEE your PAD, then we'll know your true name!"

"Th-that's… that's an invasion of privacy!" Blaze argued. "I refuse to do such a thing!"

"This ain't a court of law," Vector said. "Ya have no kinda rights that grant you the right to privacy. It's like we told Shadow: yer free not to show us, but by not doin' so, yer just diggin' yer hole even deeper."

I just looked at her, my face falling. "Please… Blaze, this is enough. Is all this anger really THAT worth it? Just tell us everything… please…"

She said nothing, but then smiled. "Even in times like this, I'm not the type to give up. Because… because because because because BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE..! UNTIL EVERYTHING IS OVER, I HAVE NO NEED TO EVER GIVE UP!"

"…fine then. If you won't settle this issue, then I have no choice. I'll prove everything, even if it comes at the expense of you refusing to admit everything! Listen up, here's what happened!"

 **CLOSING ARGUMENT**

"The case began last night after we were told to go to bed by Egg Robo," I began. "Big had approached the killer regarding something they had discussed. Naturally… this was the door leading to the second-floor dorms in the music room. However, both parties had a different plan in mind. Big wanted to do what he was told and open the door, but the killer had pure murder in mind. To begin, they had Big write up a note to tell someone to come to the music room. That someone was Tikal, who requested that she bring both her prayer beads and her room keys, and only had Big's signature on it, no one else's. Likely, if I had to imagine, they told Big to head on to the music room first while they got started getting the ingredients to her plan. First, they went over to the infirmary and opened the biohazard box, grabbing a syringe and a needle. Next, to the third floor they went to get the dolly that was used in our last case, and finally, to them chem lab on the next floor to grab what would be the murder weapon: the liquid arsenic. Finally, while they were there in the chem lab, the killer forged a fake poison by combining water and food coloring into a small vial and keeping it for later so they could plant it. After they was done, they went to the music room, acting like nothing was wrong."

I coughed. "When Tikal had arrived at the music room, it was likely that both parties weren't exactly aware of what was going on. So, the killer got started. First, Tikal was attacked with the dolly and collapsed onto the ground, dropping her prayer beads as she passed out. Next, while Big had likely broken the doorknob, the killer attacked him, leaving a mark on his neck. It was here that using the syringe, they injected the arsenic into his eye, causing him to pass out while the poison made its mark. With both parties passed out, the killer got started with cleaning up. First, they dumped off the dolly used in the office, ignoring that a passed-out Amy was on the floor. Next, they carried Tikal back to her room, using her room key to get her back inside and into her bed. Once they were done, the killer disposed of the syringe and needle in the trash can of the infirmary."

Taking another deep breath, I continued. "With all of that, the killer thought that they had succeeded in his plan. And it worked, for the time being. Later, Tikal would wake up from her attack, and in her wooziness, went to the infirmary. It was there that Tikal saw the mess of syringes and needles, and the biohazard box open. Despite her discovery, Tikal couldn't think straight, and it took her until the morning to wake up and realize she didn't have her prayer beads. It was however, at this time that Big had woken up, but was beyond help, as the poison was so deep into his bloodstream… that when he arrived in the dining hall that morning, he all died in front of us. And our villain this time… the one who attacked Tikal and ultimately killed Big…"

The room spun as I felt Blaze's angry gaze staring into my soul. The flames in her eyes penetrated deep, and even I felt uneasy just looking at her.

"It was Blaze! Sorry, but your reign ends here!"

The lavender cat's expression changed, "What…? I… I lost? Is this for real?" she shook her head. "No… no no no! It wasn't meant to come to this! I… I was going to have my… my…!"

"So, do you admit it now?" I asked.

"Tch, look at you. You're trying to act like the big man here. You've ALWAYS acted like that and always gotten on my nerves! I, Blaze the Cat, will… no."

Blaze's expression became indifferent as she looked to her side. "…Tiki the Cat is fine."

T-Tiki?!

Was… was Tiki her real name?

"I know, you're all as confused and as blown away as everyone who finds out about my real name," the cat replied. "Once I lost, I'm… not gonna drag things on. Tiki's my real name. So what? You all were telling the truth, and my desire to leave got in the way,"

"How… interesting," Wave said.

"And yer just gonna come up in here and pretend like yer someone yer not?" Vector asked.

"What can I say? I fool even myself with my reality. Anyway, I'm sick of this place. I'm tired of its walls, its food, its people… I got caught so… now it's time for me to face my consequence. Okay, Egg Robo, I'm ready to begin."

"Goodness, just like that though?" Espio asked. Blaze... or, Tiki in this case, continued.

"No, I guess it isn't really the time for goodbyes yet," she rubbed her arm. "I… I supposed this is the part where I curse you and say that I'll be back, Charmy. But in reality… I guess this is the end for me, isn't it?"

Egg Robo got up from his chair and looked up at us. "Hm… ho ho… ho ho ho hooooooooo!" he said. "I think we heard enough from this scoundrel! And now, it's the moment in which you all have been waiting for! It's time for the vote! So, you know what to do! When your stands change, please locate the lever of who you think the blackened is! Once everyone has submitted an answer, we'll have our results! What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeeee?!"

For the fourth time, our stands turned into seventeen levers with our pictures on it. I grabbed the lever with Blaze's face on it and pulled it. Like the last three times, once everyone was done, the 'Egg Robo VOTE' slot machine displayed the same thing as with last time, only this time, when the reels of the machine began to slow down, it stopped on a triple of Blaze's picture. 'GUILTY' was displayed in L.E.D. lights as rings shot from the machine. The slot machine rose up... and we knew that it was over...

At least, until I remembered where we were and what this meant for Blaze. I wasn't ready for another execution…

But Egg Robo didn't care.

 **CLASS TRIAL #4**

 **END**

* * *

As we got off our stands, Egg Robo got in our way. "Gee, four times at this and you could audition for the lead role in Carmen Sandi-hoggo for how good you are at solving these mysteries! Yes, for the FOURTH time, you have discovered your blackened! The one who hurt poor miss Tikal and the one who killed Big was none other than Blaze the Cat! Or, as she's REALLY known, Tiki the Cat!"

Blaze looked at the ground and sighed. "I still can't believe that I fell this time… Oh well."

Tikal ran over, crying. "How… how dare you?! You accuse me of something like murder... and then… and then, you kill Big!"

"You know how sweet he was!" Amy added. "Why?..."

"Oh, don't take it the wrong way," Blaze replied. "I think my downfall here was relying on Big for this plan."

"So, ya do admit that what Silver saw was you two discussin' the plan," Vector said, arms crossed. "But how did you get him to agree?"

"Loyalty. That's all there is."

"That's not important!" I said. "Was… was the motive it?"

I completely forgot about our motive, changing something about ourselves.

"Did you really kill just for it?"

"Well, I suppose I should ask you this, Charmy," Blaze covered her mouth. "Is there something YOU don't like about yourself?"

"Something… I don't like? I mean, there's a few things I don't like. I think I'm not-"

"I'm not interested in hearing your life story. I wanted to know if there was something you don't like about yourself."

"There is… hey, where are you going with this anyway? Answer my question! Why did you do it?"

"Why?..."

Blaze's demeanor changed again as her face of pure malice came out. "BECAUSE I COULDN'T STAND ANOTHER GODDAMN MOMENT WITH YOUR FUCKING SACKS OF MAGGOT DUNG! I'VE MET BOTH SMALL CHILDREN AND ADULTS WHO HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING WITHOUT THEIR PARENTS' HELP WHO ARE LESS ANNOYING THAN ALL OF YOU!"

She coughed and returned her face back to normal, looking more 'formal'. "For example, we have Tikal. A girl who believes in nothing more than pacificism but doesn't realize the flaws in it. Living beings are violent in nature, and no one would ever want to bend over for this backward, liberal way of thinking besides people who smell the roses, have a vegan diet, and want to think everything is offensive."

Tikal blushed from both embarrassment and shame.

"Continuing on, I would also like to present you all with an argument. Why DID you think I picked Big? Because face it: that obese fool had it coming to him. If someone wasn't going to kill him, life was. He can't just spend every minute of everyday fishing with some frog like he's a child. He's someone who isn't even emotionally ready for the painful hardships of life, the misery you feel when you're TOLD FROM DAY ONE HOW TERRIBLE YOU WERE!"

She then looked towards all of us. "AND QUITE FRANKLY, I COULD GO ON WITH THE REST OF YOU, BUT... OF EVERYONE TO ANNOY ME HERE, IT'S HIM!" she pointed at Silver. "YOU… ARE QUITE FRANKLY, THE LOW POINT OF SOCIETY, SILVER THE HEDGEHOG! How life has been able to continue with your putrid existence is a MYSTERY to me! I'm surprised you haven't caused governmental collapse from how INEPTH you are! And yet, AND YET! THE WORST PART ABOUT YOU IS!..."

Her face then softened as she stared at him blankly. "…how can you live your life day to day… knowing how cursed you are?... How can you wake up every day, loving life and being an idiot… and not hating yourself?"

Silver blinked and turned his head. "Uh… what?"

"Your…. Curse…"

"I don't have one…"

"Damn it you fool!" Blaze let her fangs show. "Your ESP!"

"My… ESP?"

"Kinetics like us aren't appreciated in this world. We're ostracized, told we're curses upon this world, many other horrible things."

"That… never happened to me."

I could tell Blaze was hurt by what he had said. "So, it's only just me then…"

"What are you talking about?" Espio asked. Blaze looked at her feet.

"I suppose, since I'm already to die, I should explain everything. Who I am… where I'm from…"

"Ooh, so it's juicy story time? I'm always down for that!" Egg Robo said. The cat looked at the robot and then back to us.

"As I'm sure many of you figured out, I'm not from here," she began. "I hail from the dimension of Sol, and… am the princess of its kingdom. See? The jewel upon my head is the sign of my status. But… even princesses are not immune from… the curse."

"Yeh keep talkin' 'bout the curse. What's it mean?" Vector said.

"…because it is a curse. Sol legends state that pryokinetics are linked to an ancient demon that lead to the fall of our kingdom thousands of years ago. It was believed however, when this demon was slain, his influence spread to the newly born children, giving them his power of pyrokinesis. Many children were killed when their families found out they had the curse, and if you were lucky, you'd be ostracized from your family… That's what happened to me. I lived a peaceful life within the castle walls in which I was raised. My father, the king, and my mother, the queen, gave me all the love and attention I desired, alongside my caregivers and servants. This changed… when I lit one of my candles on night. Oh, I didn't use a match, it suddenly happened."

Blaze rubbed her arm. "My caregiver was fearful and explained everything to my father. The next morning, I was brought to the throne room, where my father wanted me to explain myself. But, my little self had no answer. I didn't know why this was happening, or why my father was trying to get something out of me. Regardless… I only thought of it as wrong. He pressed me on and on… Until I took no more. I exploded on him."

"The first flames from hell itself descended from my hand and into one of the nearby knights. When they had finally realized what happened, I was called an outrage against nature. I had heard the same story just a month ago. And to think… I was one of those demon children? Many of the knights attempted to grab me, seeking a desire for execution. My mother only hid her face in shame like a coward while the throne room became a furious hall of voices. I then… left. They never saw me leave, and to be frank, I don't know how I escaped so easily. I don't even remember how my life went after I left the castle. It was a blur between staying alive and wanting to rid myself of this curse. Heh, to think such an innocent little girl wanted to die. It's such a shame how adults are, aren't they?"

She continued. "It was then after two years of wandering within Sol and trying to harness my powers that after collapsing from exhaustion, I wound up here on Mobius. Realizing that no one knew who I was, I refused to ever let anyone know the truth about me. I was no longer Tiki the Cat. I was now… Blaze."

Tikal looked at Blaze with tears in her eyes. "I'm… I'm sorry-"

"I don't NEED your sympathy! It's insulting to even think that any of this is what I wanted!"

"Wait a minute, so... you hated your talent but yet... you called yourself Blaze?" Silver asked.

"What are you saying?"

"You basically changed your name to something you light a fire on... to the name of fire even though you hated your talent."

Blaze looked down at her feet. "Well, I suppose when you look at it that way, but I assumed with my new name, I could force myself to actually appriciate who I was. Of course, I'm sure you see how well THAT turned out."

"Look, back to what Tikal was saying, no one's said that, Blaze," I said. "But it doesn't mean what you did is justified. You killed Big so… you could get rid of your Ultimate Talent and return to Sol where you can get the acceptance of your family, right?"

The cat said nothing in return.

"So, why this plan?"

"Big played into my hands perfectly for a victim. Think about it. What would his death bring to you all? Do you feel changed by it? Does it feel THAT different?"

We all looked at each other.

"Besides, I'm not done getting an answer from you, Silver," she continued. "How do you live life being cursed, and still enjoy it?"

"Because…" Silver looked at his feet. "Cause there's plenty of ways to enjoy life! I use my powers for the sense of helping out people, not to mope about it. I know what happened to you sucks, but I don't see it as a curse because I never saw it as such. That's what makes you and I so different!"

"Besides, why would you want to know about living life?!" Amy retorted. "You killed Big!"

"Isn't one part of you a serial killer?" Blaze asked. The pink hedgehog bit her lip.

"I just wanna know… What made yeh take things this far?" Vector asked. "Was this REALLY fer the motive?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I didn't JUST kill to get rid of my powers. But because since day 1, I thought of nothing but escape."

"Didn't you tell us that we had to stay here or something?" Silver asked.

"YOU LITTLE BITCH!" she screamed at him, causing the hedgehog to yelp. "Obviously THAT was a goddamn lie! I HATED it here! I HATED it since day 1! I HATED that I had to spend 24/7 with the most ANNOYING sacks of shits on the planet! I WANTED to get out! Everyday was PURE torture! All I wanted was to rid myself of this curse and kiss this place goodbye! I wouldn't even miss ANY of you to be frank! I could go on about how you're all annoying like earlier, but… I'm not. Because… you're not all THAT annoying."

"Huh?" I asked.

"There is ONE person here that I could stand."

Blaze walked over to Wave, the swallow looking surprised as the cat put her hand on her shoulder.

"Wave," she said, looking into her eyes. "You're about as much done with everyone else's shit like I am. I like that in girls like you. If you're ever in hell someday with your Babylon friends, well… I'm always free. Hit me up."

The purple swallow made a face as she got Blaze's hand off her shoulder. "No thank you, I'm fine."

"Oh, not to worry, I don't think you have much of a choice anyway. I think I'll be seeing your lovely face sometime soon."

Wave continued to look at Blaze.

"Well, that's all I have to say. At least… I was able to pursue what I wanted until the very end. I never lost track of my goal, nor did I ever lose interest in it. I may have not gotten it, but at least I tried."

"At the expense of Big?!" Tikal retorted. "Killing one of your… f-friends?!"

"Big? My friend? It's almost comical you describe him as that, _girl_. Besides, I don't feel guilty for it if that's what you want to know. Big is just one of those people who won't bring anything with his life. Newborns are brought into this world every second, so what's one person dead going to do? The world won't stop because Big died. That's all there, Tikal. Aren't our views just so different than what you're used to?"

"That's not the point!" the echidna was crying at this point. "H-How can you be so calm… when you're about to die?!"

"Look at you, shedding tears over me. It's funny, you might be the first person in my life to do such a thing. Well, unfortunately, I cannot avoid fate. I took this risk, so I might as well pay for it since I got caught. You heard what I said. I had begged for death every night since I first learned of my powers. So, Egg Robo? Kill me however you like. Make sure this foolish curse dies with me too."

She then sighed. "It's a shame. I think if I can be reincarnated, I want to live my life as the same person, only… no fire this time."

"How are you gonna see in the dark?" Silver asked.

"This isn't the age of candles and fireplaces, Silver," she laughed, covering her mouth. As she did though… I couldn't help but notice her smile was forced. The way she was smiling, the fake laugh, the way her mouth twitched…

She was scared. She just didn't want any of us to believe so. To think that her smile… would be her final lie.

"JEEEEEEEEEEEZ, are you guys done?!" Egg Robo asked. "I was getting bored with all this exposition! Like it's just, blah blah fire powers, blah blah, my life sucks! Let's just get on with it, I'm too tired for a long-winded speech. So anyway, the blackened has… yadda yadda, you get the drill, disturbed the peace and must be punished. And so, I've prepared a very special punishment for Blaze the Cat, the Ultimate Pyrokinetic!"

Blaze turned around to face Vector. "Wait."

She walked up to him. "Open your palm."

Confused, Vector did so as Blaze pulled out something from her pocket and placed it in Vector's large hand. His eyes opened wide as he felt it in his hand.

"This is?!..." he said. I couldn't see what it was, namely because Vector had already closed his hand to hide it.

"I suppose I'd give this to you, mainly because you're the most responsible," Blaze said. "Will… it really help you? Will it give the hope you need? I never saw it that way. But maybe… you're more optimistic about it than I am. Which is why… eh, not to worry about it."

She walked closer to Egg Robo, turned around to face all of us, and smiled. "Well, take care everyone. Perhaps… one day we can meet in another life, if I never come back to this world."

"Accepting your fate? At least you're not crying!" Egg Robo said. He ran to his strand and grabbed his mallet. "Well, you know what time it is! Let's give it everything we've got! It's PUNISHMENT TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

He slammed the gavel on the button that appeared on his armrest as for the fourth time, the curtains opened up to reveal a screen. An 8-bit black and white sprite of Blaze against the same red background popped with the same game over music began to play. Soon, words began to display.

 **"GAME OVER**

 **Blaze the Cat has been found guilty for the murder of Big the Cat.**

 **COMMENCING EXECUTION!"**

The wall behind Blaze opened as a large collar clamped around the cat's waist. She never cried, nor screamed, only looked at us with a fake smile on her face as she was dragged away, leaving us to follow behind.

* * *

 _Thunder boomed ahead in the dark sky as a large pirate ship swayed back and forth in the violent sea water. The waves crashed into the sides of the ship, splashing water on the main deck as various Egg Robo pirates ran around, holding telescopes to their eyes and looking out across the foggy sea. Blaze had been tied via rope onto a wooden structure, her hair blowing in the heavy wind as the main Egg Robo pirate, in his large red coat and his loud, black boots began to walk towards the cat._

 _"We be settin' sail towards the Hidden Islands soon, girlie!" he said. "But first, yee' be walkin' the plank fer tryin' to disturb me ship! No one messes with Captain EggBeard!"_

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _Extinguished Flames_**

 _He unsheathed his scimitar from his scabbard and cut Blaze's ropes. The cat fell to the ground as the other pirates got her back on her feet, forcing her to walk towards the side of the ship. One of the crew members brought out the plank as Blaze was led to the end of the plank._

 _"Any last words, landblubber?" Captain EggBeard asked. Blaze attempted to speak, however…._

 _"CAPTAIN! WAAAAAVE AT 12 O'CLOCK!"_

 _Everyone looked to their left to see a massive wave about to crash on top of them. Everyone screamed as the wave collided into the ship, causing it to become massively destroyed. One half of the ship was able to survive and continue sailing, but the other half was under water. Everything that made up the ship was now in pieces as bodies sunk into the ground. Blaze, however, stayed in place as she continued to sink further and further. One of the iron weights collided onto her stomach as she sank even further._

 _At last… water… the thing that would rid her of having talent. Soon, she would succumb to all the water in her lungs, and her having fire was a thing of the past._

 _Unbeknownst to Blaze, she was unaware that she was falling into the crater of an underwater volcano. It was only when she felt her backside becoming hot that she turned around and noticed where she was sinking. In her panic, she attempted to rid of the weight on her waist, only to get singed from behind as the magma shot upwards from the volcano. Air bubbles came from Blaze's mouth as she finally threw the weight off her, looking up to see a cannon staring directly at her. She noticed how even underwater, the… fuse was lit from the rising magma._

 _Blaze simply stared as the cannonball collided into her stomach, rupturing everything from the waist down into a mush of guts and causing her to collapse further into the volcano as gas and magma continued to rise. Egg Robo's began to sink lower into the ocean, all of them not saying anything._

* * *

…it was over.

The fourth execution was over.

Blaze's death was over.

I'll be honest, I understood the irony watching that execution. But… it didn't make it any less horrific to bare witness to. Even if Blaze did such a horrific act… I still thought of her as my friend. Was it wrong for me to feel sorry for her despite what she's done? I was beyond conflicted…

And worst of all… she died knowing she could never escape her fate.

Egg Robo then popped up into the middle of the room.

"Seven… seven people left! Jeez! At this rate, I think we'll be down to three in two weeks! I mean seriously, I didn't think you all would kill THIS quickly. Had I known that, I would do a motive every week or so! Well, not like I'm complaining. I am getting more despair! But… you guys should at LEAST put more value on your lives! You can pretend that this is an RPG where you have to sign your name on something, and you won't die thanks to that magical signature! See? If you do that, then you all can pass hope to the next generation!"

"Why do I care about hope?!" Silver cried. "I just care about getting ouuuuut!"

"Unfortunately, your request has been denied. Please insert your card's chip again and I have a 0.793% chance of fulfilling your request! Whether you like it or not, you're the embodiment of hope! And it's my destiny to knock all of you down like a chao knocking down a vase! Sad? Yes, but reality can't be avoided!"

"Look, shut up!" I yelled. "How… how much longer… aren't you satisfied enough?... Look, you even said you have only seven people left. Isn't this enough bloodshed for you?..."

"Ugh, aren't you tired of asking me, "Gee, Egg Robo! What do you want from us?!". It's annoying, so cut it out!" he then turned to face Vector. "By the by… Vector, what was it that Blaze gave you? It looks like a bit of a secret! What is it? I wanna know!"

Vector was silent, only staring at Egg Robo.

"Oh, we're playing the silent game now? Two can play at that game!"

"I ain't playin' that. I'll answer yer question if yeh can answer mine."

Vector looked at Egg Robo dead center in the eye, looking more serious than he ever had. What he said next…

"You… what did ya do? What did yeh do to me? What did yeh do to mah body?..."

When he said that, I felt everyone freeze as we looked at the two.

 _"What… did you do with my body?"_

What did Vector mean by this? Whatever it meant, Egg Robo was reacting negatively to it.

"W-Whaaaaaaaaaa?! What what what?! Oh man, oh gosh oh man oh gosh oh man oh gosh! What do you mean what did I… I d-d-d-d-d-dooooo?! I.. I have no ideaIDUNNOANYTHING!"

The way Egg Robo was reacting… What Vector was talking about… Did our mastermind do something to Vector? And worse of all…

Was it ONLY to him? Or all of us?

"Oh man, this is awkward awkward awkward! I'm outtie! PEACE!"

With his outdated slang, Egg Robo turned to face us. "Oh, and you all? Enjoy your free time or whatever. Give me a shout if you want to kiddos, I'll come maybe…. 24% of the time!"

He quickly left the room we looked at Vector.

"Okay, Vector… you're not a robot, are you?" Silver asked.

"Dun be silly, that's not what I mean," the crocodile replied. "I just… there's something that flashes in mah mind every now and again. And that way Egg Robo responded…"

"Nevertheless, what did Blaze give you?" Wave asked. Vector opened his palm, and sure enough, we saw a key with a "17" written on it.

"It's… it's the key for Ditz's locker," I said.

"So… Blaze had Ditz the whole time?" Amy added.

"Why would she hide it from us?!" Tikal retorted. "Sonic, Storm, and Jet could have been saved from such an awful fate, and to think Blaze deceived us all-"

"We'll never know just WHY she took it, pacifist girl. Maybe it was to screw with us, who knows," replied Wave. "What's important now is that we have to see what's on the computer. By now, Ditz should have all files opened I imagine."

"Then that means… we have hope," I said. "C'mon, let's go."

* * *

As we left the court room and headed towards the dressing room, Vector stopped us.

"I'm gonna go in alone, I dun want Egg Robo to suspect us," he said. "I'll check back with yeh all in the dinin' hall."

"Surely that's not the ONLY reason you're going alone, right?" Wave asked. Vector pointed at the surveillance camera. "No, I mean, why YOU?! There's still the risk of a spy."

"If you're that concerned, Wave… I'll go with him," I said, buzzing towards his side.

"As will I." Espio added. Wave looked at us three and sighed.

"Look, we're already calling far too much suspicion just standing like this. Just go, do whatever you want."

Wave walked to the dining hall.

"Good luck you three!" Tikal said.

"Please by safe!" Amy added.

"And try not to sext Ditz like Sonic did!" Silver finished. We all glared at him for making an inappropriate joke. "What? Bad timing?"

"Get over here!" Amy dragged Silver by his ear as the three of us entered the bathhouse. Vector scouted for locker 17 until he found it.

"Here it is," he said, putting the key in the lock and turning it. Sure enough, the laptop was right there. Vector turned the power on as the laptop booted up. The same deal happened last time; computer starts up, command prompt windows fill the screen, Ditz's application now finally boots up. Ditz's 'face' appeared on screen.

 _"Good evening,"_ it said. _"Ah, Mr Vector. It has been far too long. How weird though… you weren't the last person to use this computer. Where is Ms. Blaze?"_

We looked at each other as Vector typed his response.

 ** _"Blaze has been executed."_**

 _"Ah… I see. How… tragic. Yet another pair of deaths to add to the count. And to think I did what Blaze asked me to; not saying a word and keeping quiet the whole time. However, that is besides the point. I assume likely you're here to inquire about the batch of files, right? Well, I'm getting VERY close to decrypting all of them. Give me about a day or two and I'll be ready."_

Vector nodded and continued typing. **_"Thank goodness. Thank you for your work, Ditz,"_**

 _"Ha ha, no, thank you, Mr. Vector. You and your allies have given me new purpose now that Tails has died."_

The crocodile turned to face us and sighed. "Well, I think we're done here. Once Ditz is done, we need to sit down and review EVERYTHIN'."

"A likely idea," Espio replied. However, I didn't feel the same. While our current case was solved…

"Vector?" I asked. "There's something I need to ask you."

He looked a little surprised when he turned to face me. "Huh?"

"Vector, please be honest with me… What are you trying to do here at Green Hills?"

"What I'm tryin' to do here? What, is that why yeh came along?"

"No, no! Of course not!"

"Well, regardless, I dun think it's something ya need to worry 'bout."

"Don't worry about it?! Vector, when you put it like that, I'm GONNA worry more about it!"

"Worry more?"

"Now Charmy, I'm sure Vector has-" Espio said before I interrupted him.

"Like, what happened when you vanished during Jet's case! Aren't you hearing what Wave's saying? She-"

"…thinks I'm the spy," Vector nodded. "Charmy, I know yer concerned 'bout that…"

"But I don't think Vector is the type to be a spy," Espio added.

"How are you certain?" I asked.

"As a ninja, there are many ways to tell if one is a spy. Body language, personality, use of words, all ways to tell how someone is a spy. Plus, someone becomes a spy by being swayed by power, money, or the safety of one they love. Vector doesn't fall under those categories because with how levelheaded he is, even under pressure, he refuses to give in."

"That sounds… oddly conforting."

"Yeh believe me now though, right?" Vector asked.

"It's not just that I believe you two, but I also believe in you. Think about it: we believe each other as friends because that's what friends do! Vector, I know you aren't the spy but… even so, can you really not tell me what's going on?"

Vector turned away from me, then turned to face me. "…I see where yer concerned with, and I understand. I think… I believe yeh enough to let ya in on the truth. Okay, fine: I'll confess the truth… But first, mind if yeh enjoy a break?"

"A break?"

* * *

"Oh my gosh…" I said, mind blown from what I heard. I not only understand what he meant by a break, but also what Vector meant by, "a secret". I had to confirm the secret for myself. I wanted Espio to come, but he said he had something important to attend to.

At midnight, I decided it was the perfect time to see what Vector was talking about. So, I stood outside of the boy's bathroom on the second floor, looking around to make sure the cameras didn't hear me.

I recalled everything Vector told me; in this bathroom, there was no cameras just like in the bathhouse. And biggest of them all, there was a secret room in the storage closet, in the back.

When I opened the door, I buzzed over to the closet and swung the door wide open. A mop fell onto the floor as cleaning supply, towels, and detergent lined the walls of the supply closet. As I looked around the closet, I was confused. Where was the secret? Was I being lied to?

"I gotta find it," I said, putting my hand on the wall. When I did…

The wall moved like a revolving door and I crashed inside. Getting up from the floor, I looked up as I grabbed my helmet. Turning my eyes to the right, I could see… that I was inside the storage closet.

"Huh?"

The room around me was very small and not well furnished. The amount of grey I saw just hurt my eyes, and I rubbed them only to see just HOW claustrophobic the room was. I turned around to find a bookshelf against the wall.

"Probably my first guess for clues," I said, buzzing towards the shelf. I began to take out files and yearbooks, skimming through all of them and seeing if I could find any type of clue. Dust began to cloud my eyes and stuck itself onto my throat, causing me to cough as I tried to find something. Then, after pulling one yearbook out, I found a file with a note sticking out. After pulling out the black file, I read what it said on the front.

 _"Green Hills Zone Student Registry"_

"It's not dusty…" I said, opening the file and finding one piece of paper before anything else in the file. Only one sentence was on the paper.

 _"You must not leave."_

"Weird…" I said to myself. "What does this mean? I swear it seems… familiar… What don't I know? What do I know?... I must not leave… I don't… remember…"

As I stared at the paper, I got this… feeling. You know how in a game, when you feel an enemy close to you during stealth, the game does this effect where everything is infrared, and you can see where the enemy is so you can sneak by? I kind of got that feeling, because unknown to me… a shadow loomed over my body. Before I could even react, the shadow grabbed my mouth, took off my helmet, and a sound shot out.

I could barely open my eyes, and what I saw was very blurry. I felt… the ground and how cold it was. I couldn't even open my mouth or do anything. I just lay on the ground, like an emotionless being. And sure enough, darkness shadowed my vision.

* * *

I don't know how long it'd been, but when I woke up, I dragged myself up as hard as I could.

"Ow…"

My body felt like it was in so much pain, and my head hurt especially. I looked to my left to see my helmet on the ground without much care. Grabbing it, I put it on my head, but grasped my head in pain.

"What… happened?"

My question was answered when I saw the bookshelf and saw that EVERYTHING on there was gone. The yearbooks, the student registry, and the note… everything was gone.

I couldn't think about why that was the case. My head was in so much pain, my brain refused to do anymore work. I knew I had to make sure it wasn't bleeding when I got the chance. Even flying hurt, so I stuck to walking normally. Grasping my arm, I headed down the stairs and decided on whether or not it was worth going to the infirmary for pain meds.

"Maybe I need it…" I said, holding onto the wall to prevent myself from collapsing. My eyesight was blurry, and maybe all I needed was some ibuprofen and a good sleep.

That's when I heard it.

The clash of something… metal.

It was very faint, but I could hear it very clearly.

"Hm?"

My ears pointed me into the direction of the gym. Dragging myself towards there, I entered the main lobby, and I could hear the sounds clearly. It was clearly the sound of… a sword colliding with another weapon? And the sound of running feet on a gym floor?

"What's going on?"

I didn't know what it was, but I knew I had to see. Weakly, I raised my arm up towards the handle and… stopped. I didn't want to interrupt what was going on, because… because I had a bad feeling.

So, when I jarred the door open and peeked inside, my heart stopped as I realized WHAT this bad feeling was.

I looked up to see Espio and Egg Robo. Espio held his katana while Egg Robo had cross between a gun and a sword. The two were in a heated sword fight as the chameleon slashed at Egg Robo, with the robot jumping back. Then, the robot shot a few rounds at Espio, who deflected it with his katana and fired a few kunai knives at him. They jumped in the air and slashed at each other, missing both their targets. They turned around and held their weapons tight.

"What…." Egg Robo breathed. "Are you doing…?"

Espio said nothing in return.

"ANSWER ME! What's the meaning of this? You… dare defy me?!" This wasn't apart of OUR deal!"

When he said defy and deal… my heart sank lower and lower. I didn't even put two and two together until then, but… but...!

"Cancel the deal," Espio said. "I no longer serve you. I'm done with this game of compromising with you for such a silly reason. This is my decision. I will resist you until I die!"

"Hmm… okay!" Egg Robo lowered his weapon. "But, you do know what happens if you make your choice, right? Remember… my hostage?"

Espio tensed up.

"Well? Is that your choice, Espio?"

I retreated back outside and shut the door as quietly as I could, placing my back against the door. I breathed heavily, feeling like I was going to pass out even more than I already was going to.

Wave said it… there was a spy among us… She installed this fear into us, reminding us that it could happen. I thought she was being crazy, and that if there was one, it would be someone we least expected.

But I never expected it to be… to be…

Espio.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4**

Livin' in Desparadise

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Amy Rose/Rosie the Rascal

Vector the Crocodile

Espio the Chameleon

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Wave the Swallow

Tikal the Echidna

 **Deceased**

Cream the Rabbit

Rouge the Bat

Miles 'Tails' Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog

Storm the Albatross

Jet the Hawk

Big the Cat

Blaze the Cat

* * *

 _TO BE CONTINUED..._

* * *

 **(AN 2: Chapter 4 comes to a close as the truth is revealed: Blaze killed Big using the liquid arsenic and planned to frame Tikal for the murder, solely for the purpose of her own benefit. With no remose for her actions, she's sent to be executed, based on the pirate themes seen within Sonic Rush Adventure.**

 **...but fear turns into absolute horror for Charmy when he learns the truth of the tratior that the remaining survivors have been told to fear. With his friendship with Espio on the line, stakes continue to grow in spite of the rediscovery of Ditz. Can hope finally be in reach? Or is despair set to continue ruling? Find out in Chapter 5: He said: "Mankind's pain comes from lies and truths", coming soon!)**


	33. Chapter 5 (Daily Life 1)

**(AN: Well, here we are back after a bit of a hiatus! And we're back to very long parts too! Now that I'm mainly finished with school for this semester, hopefully I won't be as demotivated as I was before! And trust me, as the stakes get higher, I'm gonna see this through until the end! So, where will this head! Read and find out!)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo popped his head into a quaint forest scenery, the orange of the setting burning the eyes of whoever imagined the scene in their head._

 _"With the days getting shorter and the arrival of fall upon us, you have to think about something…"_

 _He waddled over to a leaf and picked it up._

 _"This poor, innocent leaf. To think that it started life as a leaf for this tree, and then the tree was like, "Oh, I don't need you anymore!". And it just… blew off from the tree! Isn't that sad? How could a tree be so inconsiderate?! I mean… it's a tree!"_

 _Egg Robo turned to face the screen. "But dear reader… don't you think you've had someone or something in your life that you've treated kind and fair too, and then thrown them away once they served no purpose to you anymore? Don't you regret it? Don't you feel sad? Because if I were a tree… I sure wouldn't."_

* * *

To think this all started with so many people alive… And now, I don't know properly how we got here. In fact, you could even say I'm still not over it yet.

Tails killed Cream… and then Egg Robo killed Rouge. Tails got executed, and then Knuckles died next due to Shadow, who got executed in return. Storm killed Sonic, and Jet killed Storm, leading to his execution. Big was killed by Blaze, and she got executed as well.

You'd think after so much death had occurred, we'd finally be finished with this. But from what I learned last night…

Despair wasn't over at all.

* * *

The next morning after Blaze's trial, myself and the remaining survivors sat at our usual table for breakfast. However, the mood was far gloomier, as indicated by a solemn looking Silver with his head on the table.

"Man, Egg Robo wasn't kidding when he said how lonely it was. Huh?" he asked.

"To think we had ten more people when we first arrived…" Tikal bemoaned. "It feels lonelier by the day."

"It makes you wonder about our chances of escaping. With fewer people here… we feel more insecure about our future," Espio added. As soon as he opened his mouth, my eyes widened as my stomach grew a hole that got bigger by the second.

What was I going to do? I think I was the only one who knew…

What DID I even see? Was I daydreaming it… or did it REALLY happen? Was Espio REALLY the mastermind's spy? And if so, what did this mean about us? What did this mean about-

"Charmy, you look like you're seconds away from breaking your glass," the chameleon said. I looked down to see my hand gripping my cup of juice hard.

"A-Ah! No, I'm fine!" I lied, knowing I couldn't bring it up in front of the others. Maybe I'd ask Espio later today… but for now, there was no way in heck I'd do something like that. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Vector looking at me as if he knew there was something wrong. I tried my best however to not stare at him, as hard as it was.

"You know, I was thinking… since we already spend so much time here doing nothing, maybe we should make something as a memorial to everyone who's died here!" Tikal exclaimed.

"What are we gonna do, sing kumbaya while they go to the afterlife?" Wave snarked.

"W-Well, no! Maybe just like… we can make something as a sort of memorial… like a haniwa!"

"Haniwa? You know about that?" Espio asked.

"Well of course! I am trying to become a maiden after all. Perhaps it'll be just what the dead need… I don't particularly want them to haunt-"

"STOP RIGHT THEREEEEE!" Silver cried. "D-Don't you dare say there's a g-g-ghost!"

"I'm not! That's why I suggested the haniwa!"

"Could we maybe just… eat, guys?" Amy asked. "Like, how about we eat until we can't stand up! Let's fry up a bunch of fattening foods and forget about all the bad stuff that's happened here! I'm in the mood for bagels and chicken biscuits personally…"

"Sounds fun, but dun forget: we still gotta explore our new floor," Vector replied. "Dun forget, we still have… IT."

"That's right! And with… it, there's gonna be no more bad, deathy thoughts!"

"Man, when this is all over, I hope when I die some 60 or 70 years from now, I hope that I get rebirthed as someone serious! And before you ask, I'm totally okay! In fact, I think… we're not gonna cause any more deaths here!"

"What makes you so sure?" Tikal asked.

"I dunno… I just have that weird feeling that I'm right!"

"Don't you usually have that and yet 99% of the time, you're wrong?" Wave asked.

"Hey, this time I REALLY feel it! I'm not a fortune teller! I just have ESP! Don't put them in the same boat as Chao mutilation!"

"Chao… what?"

"You really believe in THAT urban legend?" Vector asked.

"What legend?"

"Ya ain't heard? Chao mutilation is a theory that a lot of conspiracy nuts have. It basically says that alien races abduct chao and dissect them for their research."

"It's not a theory! I had it happen to me!" Silver exclaimed. We all sat in silence, confused by what he meant. "Okay okay, let me explain: I had just ordered this DELICIOUS burger from a place I'd never been to before. They said that their buns were made from a special type of egg that they mixed into the dough they used to toast their buns! So, I leave and just as I'm about to dig in… I was stopped by a bright light. With my burger in my hand, I tried to cover my eyes until I felt the wind almost blow me off my feet! And then… I SAW MY BURGER FLY OUT OF MY HAND AND INTO THE LIGHT! And the worst part?... It was JUST THE BUN! Who eats a hamburger when it's just a patty, cheese, and veggies?! Then it's not a burger anymore, it's pretentious ground beef! That's when I remembered Chao mutilation and questioned the owners. Turns out, the 'egg' used for the buns was actually yolks of a chao egg!"

Tikal turned green upon hearing this. "Please no! That's beyond ghastly! I don't want to think about that! Chao are far too adorable for a story like that!"

"Dude, I got lost halfway through your story," I said, staring blankly at the white hedgehog.

"I can't tell if you're for the supernatural or against it, you weirdo…" Amy added.

"Oh, trust me, pinky, he's more than a weirdo," Wave continued.

Vector cleared his throat. "Anyway… whatever happens, let's just go on with today," he said.

Silver laughed in response. "Well, I can say this with certainty: I won't kill anyone!"

"Neither will I!" Tikal added.

"Me three!" Amy smiled.

"And me four!" I said.

Vector and Espio nodded, leaving all of us to look at Wave.

"…what? What are you all looking at me for?" she asked.

"Say the line!" Silver said.

"Fine. Go screw yourself."

"Aw, that's not the line!"

"Hey, you didn't say WHAT line, numbskull."

"…fair point."

Still… to think that I was hearing those words out from everyone, it really showed how far we had all come. We've overcome despair, and now we're making a vow to make sure that the killings stop for good. Maybe Egg Robo will realize that we don't crack unlike the others. After all, after four attempts, you think he'd give up anyway.

Although, despite our newfound hope, I still thought something was missing. We had courage and hope, but it was like… deep down, we hid weakness and fragility under the mask of hope…

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents…**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **He said: "Mankind's pain comes from lies and truths"**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 1**

* * *

Once we finished breakfast and washed up, we headed up to our new location: the fifth floor. It was hard to believe a school had THAT many floors. I mean, my old zone had multiple buildings but only had like, two floors. Couldn't Green Hills be like that or did they decide to be too extra?

I never could get an answer to my question, but what I did learn about was the fifth floor looked like. The lighting everywhere was entirely blue, and there were plants in a small garden like area to my left. The entire floor looked different from the other parts of the zone…

"And I have a bad feeling about THAT," I told myself. Looking at my map, I noticed that there weren't as many rooms on this floor compared to the other ones, but I figured I might as well start off with the two classrooms by me. While the first one didn't yield any results, the second one did. Amy was in the classroom, looking at the design on the chalkboard.

"Oh, hey Amy," I said.

"Hiya, Charmy!" she replied. "Man, five floors and yet I still feel like we haven't gotten that far with finding a way out…"

"I know, makes you wonder just how big this place is."

"Looks like another floor bigger. While doing some searching, there's yet ANOTHER locked gate."

"Geez, you ever heard of a zone with six floors?!"

"I've been to a mall with six floors, but not a zone with that many! Even when my parents sent me to some fancy private zones, they weren't THAT many floors!"

"You never mentioned that you went to a private zone."

"I didn't? Huh… I thought I did! Maybe I'll tell you about it in the future!"

"One question… I heard rumors that in secondary private zones, you all have a Meh Burger in your cafeteria. Is that true?"

"Oh no, it totally isn't."

"Man, and I believed it-"

"We had both a Meh Burger AND a Chuck's Chili Dogs!"

"…scratch that."

"Anyway, there's still some parts I have to explore to get ready for when we tell the others what we found. I'll see you later, Charmy!"

With that, the pink hedgehog skipped out of the room. I had to thank my lucky stars that Amy was in a good mood, no doubt because I haven't seen Rosie in a while. After leaving the classroom, I went down the hall to my left and headed to the most far room on the PAD's map. When I arrived at the door, I noticed that the large pair of wooden double doors looked far different than any of the doors here. When I opened the door, I learned why that was the case.

As soon as I walked through, I was belted by a breeze and a flow of cherry blossom petals. I could see Espio sitting on the floor, not moving or saying anything. He simply looked at the dojo backdrop ahead.

Dojo… so this is what this place was. But why would there be one here?

"Ah, Charmy."

I yelped, almost dropping my PAD.

"Come, sit down."

I was shaking now. I wanted to ask him here and now about what I saw. We WERE alone after all... but the way he was just sitting there, it unnerved me. It made me feel like… like asking him was useless. Regardless, I took a deep breath, and buzzed my way over to the chameleon.

"Tell me, when you see a sight as beautiful as this, what do you think of?" he asked as I sat down.

"What do I think of? Well, I just got here-"

 _"No,_ what do you THINK of?"

"Uh… like something I'd see on the internet?"

Espio sighed. "I don't think you know where I'm going with this."

One of the petals blew into his hand and he held it up for me to see.

"Do you know what cherry blossoms represent? They represent the coming of spring. When you see them starting to form on trees, you know that the cold winter is now over, and a time for renewal has begun. However, the life of a blossom like this is short."

Espio dropped the petal.

"In spite of that, we know a lot about the blossom in the two weeks that it's alive. We know that they represent the brilliance, fragility and transience of life. It makes you remember that for as short as life can be, we must spend all that we can with the ones we love, the ones who we trust, and the ones that will be around for when the next spring arrives."

"Okay… I get it now… I think… but why are you asking me?"

"Charmy, I can't help but feel like something is going on with you. You had it on your face."

My eyes grew wide when he said that.

"Don't forget, I am your friend and ally. You're always free to confide in me when you're having an issue."

I swear I felt my forehead beginning to sweat as I balled up my hand into a fist, keeping my mouth as shut as possible.

"With all this talk about a spy, I think it's good to be as open as one can be. And even more so because of our friendship. As the Ultimate Ninja…"

He looked at me. "…you have my word that I am someone you can trust, even if it's for the littlest things."

I couldn't help myself. "I do have an issue. It's about-"

And then I stopped myself. I thought Espio would be safe to talk to but… even now, I felt unsafe just talking about it here. I didn't feel right, I didn't feel like I would get closure, and worst of all, I didn't feel like I was trusting Espio. I know about what I saw but… but I was afraid. I was afraid of knowing the truth and hearing it straight from him. I was afraid about what the others would say if they heard me talking about what happened. The only person who had to get closure was… myself.

So why couldn't I just ask him here?! Now was the perfect time!

But my fear overcame me as usual.

"…never mind. It's not important."

I turned to face the chameleon, who looked at me with a frown on his face. "Are you certain, Charmy? This issue you have, it seems to be hurting you."

"…yeah, it's fine."

Espio sighed. "I don't wish to pry, but I'm sure whatever your issue is, in due time, you'll get your answer. And I think that's when the time for asking questions will be perfect. It'll be okay, Charmy. I'm sure you'll know the truth."

I didn't know whether Espio knew if I was talking about him, and frankly, I didn't WANT to know. I continued to stay silent, twiddling my thumbs.

"I will say though," the chameleon said, changing the subject. "It's such a shame that a beautiful dojo like this is kept here. It reminds me of home."

"Your home… is a dojo?" I asked, hoping that Espio would change the subject.

"Oh of course, it's the dojo of the Shinobi clan. Granted, while I think home looks better than this, having something that reminds me of home shall help me in keeping me sane. Meditation and working out here sounds perfect. It's such a shame we're not doing it under the blue sky."

Espio sighed. "If we ever find a way to destroy Egg Robo, let's come by here for a cup of tea and a game of shogi. I think that'll definitely be a treat for our hard work."

I smiled. "Yeah… I guess you're right."

* * *

After leaving the dojo to Espio, who decided he was going to meditate, I shut the door and exhaled.

"Gosh…" I said, putting my hand on my chest. "I felt like I was gonna EXPLODE in there…"

"What is this about explodin'?"

I felt my body go from normal to into shock when I heard that voice. I looked up to see Vector looking down at me.

"O-Oh, Vector! I-"

"Who's in there?"

"E-Espio."

"I see…"

He continued to look down at me.

"Charmy, can ya come with me?"

"W-Why?"

"Just… wanted to ask ya somethin'."

As I stood there confused, Vector turned around as the flaps of his detective's jacket swooshed. He began to walk off as I followed behind. We had passed by another room that I hadn't been through yet, past another classroom, and into a dark grey hallway, away from civilization.

"What's this about, Vector?" I asked.

"It's that ya haven't told me 'bout the secret."

"The… secret?"

"The boy's bathroom?"

"Oh, that! Man, I thought you meant it was about…" I coughed, trying to change the subject. "Anyway, I did find the secret room, yeah. But when I looked around, I was… attacked."

Vector looked at me sharply. "I'm sorry, attacked?! By who?!"

"I dunno, it was from behind! I didn't react in time, I'm sorry. And I'm even more sorry about what happened after. When I woke up after my attack, everything in the room was gone."

'Gone? Damn…"

"Do you remember everything in there? I'm sorry, I should have-"

"Dun be. I already saw everythin' I needed to. If whoever attacked ya thought that they got away, they got another thing comin'. To be honest, I figured the mastermind would come after yeh."

"You did?! And... that didn't occur to you that it could be dangerous?"

"The thing is, the mastermind saw me go into the bathroom and not come out fer a while. They must have figured out that there was somethin' there, and that was my plan. I wanted to see how the mastermind would react."

"React?"

"Basically, if the mastermind knew 'bout the room in there. But to attack yeh and steal everythin'? I swore I went through everythin', and yet… it's almost like there was something we weren't meant to see."

"So… you knew I was gonna get attacked... and still went with it?"

"Sometimes ya just have to go off the deep end fer science."

"Off the deep end?! Vector, if it wasn't for my helmet, I think I would have DIED!"

"Besides, ya can handle it, can't ya? Yer a bee but not fragile."

"Ugh, I guess. Well, if this is questioning hour, riddle me this: What do you think about the note in the book? You know, the 'You cannot leave' one?"

I could tell Vector became uncomfortable as soon as I mentioned that. "We… should talk 'bout that later. The walls can hear us. But trust me, I'm lookin' into it. Is that okay?"

I nodded.

"Now, lemme hear from yeh."

"Huh?"

"Dun try to hide it from me. I noticed that ya looked a little too pale at breakfast earlier and was looking at Espio intently. What's the meanin' behind it?"

"I… It's…"

I thought back to what I saw last night.

"What's the matter? Is it THAT bad? Write it down if you must."

"Not that, it's…"

I turned away, not wanting to look at Vector.

"Hey, wasn't it you who told me about what it meant to be friends last night or summin'? Aren't we supposed to be trusting each other?"

That's the thing. I COULD tell you, but… how can I say it without any evidence. I wanted to tell him everything, but…

"…I'm sorry, Vector."

"What?..."

I could feel him glare at me as I let my face fall. "It's not that I don't want to tell you. It's that… I have so many thoughts that I just don't know what to think of it. And I feel like if I tell you, you won't believe me. You said that to be a good detective, one must have a keen eye for the truth. I'm not even 100% certain about… my secret, and I want to learn the truth. I want to know so that I can make a fair judgement without making an accusation. I'm sorry Vector… I promise that… if I find the truth, I'll tell you. But for now, I want to first learn the truth myself."

I looked up to see Vector turned away from me. "…so, that's yer answer. But is that fair? I told ya what I had to share, and yeh won't oblige."

"I'm sorry…"

"Fine, forget it."

Vector walked off, not wanting to look at me. I felt my antennae fall as I know I royally pissed him off.

"Vector… Espio… Why did this have to happen to us? I thought we would leave together, not be torn apart… like this."

Trying to make myself feel better, I looked at my PAD, remembering that there were a few other places I had yet to explore. First, I buzzed on over to the large room by the left part of the map, a pair of large doors greeting me when I arrived. Upon opening the door, I felt a blinding white light clouding my eyes, and I held up my arm to prevent my vision from being blinded. When I lowered my arm, I heard… flickies chirping.

"Huh?"

Rubbing my eyes, I squinted my eyes to get a closer look. The entire room had a… a blue sky. There were plants and flowers everywhere, including ones you normally don't find in this part of Mobius. There were so many that they extended high into the sky, where I saw multiple large Venus flytraps. However, none of the flowers in the room compared to this ref flower with a VERY large yellow pistil. I wasn't sure what type it was… maybe it was a hibiscus?

Amongst the sea of… well, EVERYTHING that was in the room, I saw Silver looking at the massive flower. Buzzing up to him, he jumped.

"Waugh! Oh, it's you Charmy! I thought the mutant plants came to eat me!" he said.

"The… mutant plants?" I replied.

"Yeah! I mean, you look at all the flowers here; don't they look like they're totally gonna come to life and enslave us all? Think about it! Plants are always watching the movement of us living organisms! Who knows if they're plotting to kill us right now! I mean, look at that one!"

Silver pointed at the rafflesia. "It smells like it can totally be packaged into something that can be used for biological warfare! What even is that?!"

"Rafflesia arnoldii, the biggest flower in the world."

"You… know about it?"

"Well, duh. I love flowers. I'm a bee, you dip."

"Then why does it-"

"Smell like a rotting corpse? It's because when it blooms, it attracts insects to pollinate the flower. Not me though, I've never seen one like this in person."

"Wow, Charmy! You sure seem to know a lot about flowers! Why aren't you the Ultimate Botanist then?"

Before I could answer, Egg Robo popped up.

"Because he's dead!"

"Wait a minute, huh?!" I looked confused, wondering, A. Where did he come from? And B. What does he mean DEAD?!

"Yo, are you for real?" Silver asked.

"You bet I am!" the robot replied. "And don't you be going into that giant flower either! That's an Egg Robo flower! One touch of it, and it's like that one death in a video game where you turn from fleshy being to a pile of bones!"

"So, something not manmade, right?" I asked.

"Sure it was! It was made by the previous Ultimate Botanist, who as I mentioned, died during the Great Calamity! Oh, but don't be TOO scared! It doesn't just eat people; it can eat about anything! If anything, this flower might be the future for waste disposal! No more of that climate change stuff you kids seem to always be upset about nowadays! Nope, we can say ta-ta to greenhouse gasses! So, don't touch the flower! And no pollinating it either, Charmy! I know how you bees are!"

Egg Robo vanished as I sighed.

"Well, it's not like this place can get any worse. I mean, at least we finally have sunlight, right?"

Silver hissed through teeth. "Yeaaaaaah… uh, ABOUT that… The sky isn't real."

"Come again?"

"The sky isn't real. It's just painted to make it look like the sky."

I simply looked at Silver and then looked up at the ceiling, noticing all the brush marks left. Slapping my face, I sighed. "I can't have anything good happen to me, can I?

"Doesn't look like it. Sorry, man. Why don't you explore more? I'm sure there's more."

"Like that?"

I pointed at the panel at Silver's side. He turned to face it and we both looked at it.

"What does it do?" he asked.

"Maybe it's something that controls the AC? I saw stuff like that sealed up in my zone," I replied. Egg Robo suddenly popped in between the middle of us and the panel.

"I'm glad you kids are curious! This controls the sprinklers!" he said.

"The… sprinklers?"

"Yeah, it turns on automatically every morning at 7:30, so don't you DARE mess with it! Of course, I have it locked up like so, so it's not like you could anyway!"

"And that's 7:30 WITHOUT fail, right?"

"Yup! Just be careful to not come here when it's time for the sprinklers to go off, otherwise you'll get drenched! And with wings like those, Charmy, I don't think that's what you want at ALL!"

Vanishing, Silver sighed.

"Man, we could have totally had a water balloon fight if the sprinklers weren't so high," he said, hands on his hips.

"Well… we'd need balloons first of all."

"I'm sure there's some around here SOMEWHERE!"

Before I could respond, I began to hear soft… cute sounding singing coming from the shed in the distance. I couldn't believe how I'd missed it, as it was the most stand out thing in the room in the sea of greenery. It was large and white, and painted with floral patterns and vines across it. There was also a screen where the window was, which was where the singing was coming from.

"What's that?" Silver asked. The sound of a tambourine being played soon followed as we looked at each other. Sneaking to the shed, we raised out heads up to find a group of six chao playing music and singing.

"Aw, it's a Chao kindergarten!" Silver said. "I can never get enough of those guys!"

"Hey, you don't think those Chao are dangerous, do you? Like, they're there for blowing us up or turning into vicious killers or something like-"

"You're being silly, Charmy! Of course they won't!

"Well, you never know! Egg Robo owns them after all!"

"What should we do with them? Leave them here? I don't think Egg Robo would like us taking them out."

"Let's just leave them be. They probably enjoy being in the kindergarten more than outside in this shithole."

"But…. Don't you just wanna hold one and cuddle it for the rest of your life and making sure it's always protected?"

"…yes…"

To resist my urges, I knew I had to turn away right now, so quickly buzzing past all the flowers and covering my nose when I passed by the rafflesias, I made my way to another shed on the other side of the room. Opening the door, I could see various garden tools stacked on top of one another and hanging on the wall. Everything seemed ordinary, and my eyes moved from the lawnmower, to the various watering cans, to the pickaxe, to the-

"Huh?"

I had to take a double take when I saw a pickaxe standing on its side. Grabbing it and almost dropping it because of how heavy it was, I turned my head.

"What is this doing here?"

Reading the label on the pickaxe, I noticed that it said, _"Accevive Industries Ltd."_

"Accevive? I know I've heard that name before…"

Knowing I'd have to mention that to the others when we grouped back up, I let the pickaxe down as I buzzed out of the shed.

 _"That seems to be it,"_ I thought to myself. At least, that was what I thought until I noticed it. Right by a patch of sunflowers, there was… another picture.

"What?!"

Quickly buzzing to the picture, I grabbed it and flipped it around, seeing that it was… Big and Blaze. Big seemed to have something in his hand while Blaze was trying to grab it from him.

"And yet it's like the other two images…" I said to myself. "What's this mean?"

I looked around to see where the surveillance camera was. Seeing that it was on the other side and pointed away from me, I thought it would be the perfect time to sneak out.

 _"But I still need a witness… And Vector's mad at me…"_ I thought to myself. I looked ahead to see Silver, who despite his slow nature, I figured I could trust him.

"The only issue is getting him away from the camera without making Egg Robo suspicious of us…"

Realizing what I could do, I buzzed back into shed to find something to make enough noise to get Silver's attention, but not enough so Egg Robo would hear me. Finding a pair of shovels, I grabbed one and looked at it.

"Let's give it a shot."

Buzzing back to the garden, I began to dig up some dirt from the patch of flowers and flung it to where Silver was. I could see him look down.

"What the?.." he said to himself as he looked up, seeing my gesture towards him. He ran over to me.

"Charmy, what in the-"

"Shh!" I held my finger over my lips. "Don't make too much noise. I don't want Egg Robo to know."

'Egg Robo to know what?"

Gesturing to the shed, we both snuck in as I held out the picture. "I found one. Another picture!"

Silver grabbed the photo and held it up. Unlike the others however, he looked less convinced.

"Charmy, this doesn't really look all THAT real… Now that I'm seeing it up close-"

"But it's been three times now! There's no way this is a coincidence! All the pictures mean something!"

"Well I GUESS but we still dunno who took them and when and where they were taken. If anything, Egg Robo has a lot of computers, he can-"

"No, it's not manipulated! It's almost like-"

"Like Charmy and Silver being naughty thieves?"

Silver jumped out of his feet and landed on the floor, crawling away as Egg Robo appeared.

"Oh no you don't! Not this time!" I said, buzzing away from the robot.

"You dare risk punishment by defying your headmaster?"

"Hey, you never said ANYTHING about this in the rules! Just that we can't hurt you!"

"Well now I'm making a new rule! No… stealing-"

"Then perhaps you wanna tell me the truth of this picture so I can be kind and give it back?"

"I'd never reveal my trade secret! Now give it here!"

"Fine."

Buzzing higher, I threw the picture into the Egg Robo flower, who disintegrated the photo upon contact with the pistil.

"Now nobody gets the picture."

"Come ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN! That was MY picture!"

"And before you get on me for that…" I pulled out my PAD and opened the rules portion of the PAD. "The rules say nothing about me destroying that photo, just that I can't destroy surveillance cameras."

Egg Robo was silenced and turned his back on me.

"Fine! See if I care! I didn't need that picture anyway! I have thousands of copies in my office, I just didn't want you to get a clue about what's going on!"

"Are you gonna stop being vague when it comes to that anyway?"

"Well, now that you destroyed my picture, it gives me LESS of an incentive to do that! So take that you spaz!"

"Hey, that's an offensive term!" Silver said.

"Well too bad! ARGH, I'm so upset, I'm gonna film a bunch of unfunny comedy sketches about how rude you young people are all while using horribly outdated, politically incorrect terms for cheap laughs!"

In his anger, Egg Robo vanished as I buzzed back to ground level. Silver looked at me as I descended.

"Big and Blaze together huh?" he asked. "Still is weird that it's everyone who's died here."

"Everyone except Rouge. That's a little weird."

"Man, it's been so long since she died, I almost forgot about her personally. She didn't really… DO much, did she?"

"Not particularly. Still, let's keep that in mind."

* * *

After taking my time in the garden, I said goodbye to Silver as I headed back out the hall. Heading left and going down the hall Vector and I took when we had our talk, I noticed that the walls of the hall went from blue to gray. In the middle, I saw Tikal staring at the hallway.

"Tikal?" I said, causing her to jump.

"Oh my goodness, Charmy! Please don't do that!" she said.

"Heh heh, sorry… anyway, what's going on?"

"I don't know but…"

I could see the light ahead flicker.

"…something about this hall gives me the creeps," she continued.

"No kidding. What do you think is there?"

"I'm not sure. I don't particularly want to look if you ask me."

"Do you want me to?"

"Oh… Charmy, you don't have to-"

"I understand if you're afraid. I'll be fine."

Despite me sounding brave, I was beyond petrified. This seemed like the perfect spot to die if I was in a horror movie, which this zone pretty much WAS. Maybe if there was a movie killer here-

 _"Enough with the fantasy scenarios!"_ I thought to myself. _"I gotta do this for Tikal and to make her feel safe!"_

As I took a deep breath, I rushed ahead down the hall, closing my eyes and waiting for the eventual knife to slice through my back. But thankfully, no such thing happened. Instead, I was in front of a grey, stone door with the word "CRUDE" on it. Above the door was a sign that said, "BIO LAB".

But when I tried to open the door, I found that it was locked.

"Nothing?" Tikal called out. Another light flicker, causing my side of the hall to become very dark. While I was able to easily see Tikal, I doubt she could see me. I also felt something behind me, almost like it was waiting for me to make its move. When the lights came back, I yelled and turned around, only to see… Nothing.

"Whew!" I said. Man, I had to stop thinking like SOMEONE was gonna kill me soon...

"Is there anything else you can find about the room, Charmy?!" Tikal called. I turned around and attempted to open the door again, but to no avail. What I did notice was that the room felt… chilly.

"Chilly?"

Taking off one of my gloves, I felt the door handle and reeled back when I felt how cold it was. I could even feel the frigidness from the door, wondering how cold the room in question had to be to make parts of the DOOR that cold.

"Well… the door is chilly… that's it."

The orange echidna sighed. "I see. Thank you for your help…"

Buzzing back down the hall, I realized there was still one more area I had left to explore. After looking around at the grey hallway surrounding me, I was able to find the final area of the fifth floor: a classroom.

When I opened the door, I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting. Another one of those classrooms with a design on the chalkboard, a computer, hell, ANYTHING that made it look like a classroom was what I was expecting.

But this?

It was a reminder of hell itself.

I covered my nose when I sniffed the smell of death and blood, coughing violently as I looked at the dreary room in front of me. The entire room was a disaster, from desks and chairs thrown about and destroyed, to blood on the walls and the floor, scratches on the chalkboards and walls, many lights busted, and graffiti everywhere.

"EYE FOR AN EYE" said one message on the wall, and "DESPAIR SYNDROME" on another. There were even multiple chalk outlines on the floor, and I wasn't even sure what was more frightening: that there were chalk outlines in the FIRST place, or that there were multiple. It reminded me a bit of the one movie I mentioned to Tikal a few weeks back, with this same kind of… dingy look to it.

"But what even is this?" I muttered to myself, shaking my head as I buzzed around the room.

"Smells awful doesn't it?"

I quickly turned my head to where the voice came from, where I saw Wave with her arms crossed.

"Oh, Wave…" I replied. "I mean, it does."

"But doesn't it smell familiar? Since you're so used to corpses by now."

"Smell… familiar?"

"The smell of death. The blood and flesh of someone once living still lingers in this room."

As much as I didn't want to admit it, she was right. This room was the embodiment of not just despair and hell, but also death itself.

"What do you think happened here?" Wave continued.

"I think Egg Robo-"

Before I could even finish that sentence, I was already being interrupted by, well, do you have to guess?

"You know, your favorite game seems to be the blame everything on Egg Robo game, isn't it?!" Egg Robo yelled.

"Only cause if you weren't around, NONE of this would have happened!" I argued back.

"IF I wasn't around? Oh, ho ho ho! No, Charmy, I think that's wrong! It's quite the opposite!"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that I left this room THE same way I found it! And sure enough, it was like this when I found it!"

"Exactly the same?"

'Yeah! How's that for a hint? It's not like an arcade game where you have to pray your friend knows the answer! I'm being blunt here! But man… doesn't this place look scary or what? This totally looks like the lair of a movie serial killer, without the added hooks, knives, and whatever else killers use since I don't watch those kinds of movies anymore! Of course, don't be too scared! In the outside world, people die every day! Whether it be justified or not, they're probably more horrific than what this room has, so keep your chin up comrade! Otherwise its to the reeducation camp for you!"

"You don't even have one of those!"

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Charmy."

With that, he vanished, but left me still thinking. _"What did he mean by 'he left it the way he found it'?"_

"Hey Wave, any ideas?" I asked. She ignored me however, adjusting her glasses as she crouched and looked at the floor.

"Wave?"

No answer.

"Ugh, never mind."

Realizing that I should start exploring, I first looked at the puddle of dry blood on the floor.

"Notice how the color is more dull than usual blood," I heard Wave say. "With the dryness and the dull color, I'm sure we can come to the conclusion that it's not new, am I right?"

"Who could bleed this amount of blood?" I replied.

"Someone who was in the middle of an active disaster. Goodness, it only makes you think, doesn't it?"

Think terrible thoughts, that's for sure.

That extended to when I looked at the chalk outlines. I always saw these in crime TV shows, but never in person. Does this mean that the people in this room were murdered? And if so… by who?

I didn't want to stay in the room anymore. The longer I stuck around, the more I felt like my soul was being eaten. I buzzed out of the room, gasping for air and being thankful that I didn't smell the stench of death anywhere.

"Maybe I should…" I took a few more deep breaths. "Take a visit with the others in the dining hall…"

* * *

With so many things running through my head; Espio being the spy, the picture I found, and the room of death, I felt I found so much and yet had no closure on what ANY of it meant. One by one, everyone arrived at the dining hall, some looking concerned, others looking unphased, and Vector looking… coldly at me. I hung my head, not wanting to look at him.

"Well, it seems we're all here," Tikal said.

"Yeah, but it's only six of us, no Wave," Silver replied.

"She can join with us later," Espio added.

"I…. guess you're right. So, where do we begin?"

"I'll start!" Amy said. "Well, I didn't find much in terms of classrooms. They're still the same old, same old. I did also find a bio lab on the floor, but it's locked. It also had this spooky word on the door… what was it again? Crude?"

"Yeah, I saw that too! It looked very frightening… what do you think it's for?" Tikal asked.

"Probably fer biology, but it doesn't seem right…" Vector replied. "There's so many science labs here, and what's the meanin' of that 'Crude' message?"

"I'm… not certain."

"Well, with that aside, there's also a giant greenhouse… garden? Eh, garden sounds right. Yeah, this garden, I explored there! There was quite a bit of stuff there! Alongside a whole ton of flowers, there's also a Chao kindergarten and a toolshed there!" Silver said.

"Mind going in a little more detail?" Vector asked.

"Well, there's this really large flower, Charmy knows what it's called, a… err-"

"It was called an Egg Robo flower. Egg Robo described it as a flower that can melt anything that touches its pistil."

"ANYTHING?" Amy questioned. "Even p-people?!"

"Even people."

"Oh no…" Tikal put her hands together. "Oh please please PLEASE tell me no one will die being pushed into that flower!"

"No, no one's gonna die like that!" I argued. "We said we'd make sure that wouldn't happen, right guys?"

But no one said 'Charmy, you're right!' or something of that degree. They knew it wasn't true now that it'd happened four times already.

"Well," I sighed, slumping back to my chair and changing the subject. "There's also sprinklers in the garden, so don't be there before or at 7:30 am, otherwise you'd be drenched."

"Could you imagine how cold that water must be? It could be a great way to wake up if you're a heavy sleeper," Tikal added. "Or if you really love to be pelted with water in the morning like your father does to you whenever he finds out that you went behind his back and bought a book on keeping peace with oneself."

We all looked at Tikal.

"So uh, does this zone offer therapy?" Silver asked.

"I think having Egg Robo as my therapist would be even worse than the trauma of dealing with my terrible father," Tikal replied.

"Well, I'd rather not trigger anything bad, so why don't we talk about the next part of what was in the garden! The Chao kindergarten!"

Now Tikal was smiling. "Really?! There are Chao here?!"

"Whoa, you sound excited!"

Tikal put her hands together. "I love Chao! They're such darlings and the literal personification of peace! I always loved them, and grandma let me take care of one… at least, until my fa-"

"No more dad trauma!"

Tikal looked down at the floor. "You're right. But still, thinking that I'll finally be able to play with the Chao and sing and read to them, it's like you're raising a baby!"

"I can't say I've ever had a chao," Espio replied. "But… hearing it from you, it does sound a little bit interesting. Perhaps you can teach me about them?"

"Oh absolutely, Espio! I just hope whatever limited resources we have here are enough for them…"

"There was also a toolshed there in the garden," I said. "There was something weird though…."

"Weird as in… how?" Amy asked.

"I found a pickaxe that was made by this brand that I SWEAR I've heard of. Accevive?"

"That brand?" Wave asked. "They're a well-known brand of… well, they don't make just ONE thing really. They make things from pianos to jet skis, to extreme gears to motorcycles to-"

I paused as it finally hit me. "Wait a minute, Vector! That's where I heard it!"

"Heard… it?" Silver asked.

"Accevive! It was the brand of motorcycle that Shadow uses! I remember him telling me that! He even said it was his favorite brand!"

"So, what? You think Shadow might have snuck the pickaxe into the garden?" Amy asked.

"There's no way," Espio replied. "We were only given access to the garden and the fifth floor as a whole today. How could he have gotten up there without us knowing?"

"Then perhaps, Shadow brought it here and Egg Robo confiscated it when we arrived?" Tikal added.

"If that's the case, why on earth would he bring a pickaxe to a zone?" Espio asked.

"I don't think it's the why, I think it's more so how the pickaxe is connected to him in terms of branding," I replied.

"Well, pickaxes aside, that's not what I noticed in the toolshed!" Silver added. "There was a lawnmower in there! We can call for help!"

"How can a lawnmower help?"

"We make crop circles and voila! We'll be saved!"

"Wasn't it you who told me that the sky in the garden was painted and fake?"

Silver stopped for a minute, put his finger on his mouth, and did an "O" shape with his mouth.

"Goodness, before you weren't THIS stupid…" Amy murmured. "What happened to you?"

"My personality and character development weren't deepened of course! I was just that guy who took everything easy and when he realized it was real, panicked!"

"I can TELL."

"Espio? What about you?" I asked him.

"Well, I did explore the dojo. There's still a multitude of metal plates but the dojo is nice. I'm not sure how well you all will like it though," he replied.

"It seems more like your thing, but I'm happy that you like it, Espio!" Tikal replied.

I gulped, realizing who I had to talk to next. "A-And… Vector? What did you discover?"

The crocodile looked at me and turned away.

"Hey, Charmy? Why is Vector upset?" Amy asked. "He is, isn't he? He's totally mad!"

I rubbed the back of my head. "I mean I… guess so?"

Tikal gasped. "And it's with you, isn't it?! Charmy, I can't believe you made your friend feel bad!"

"No need to rub it in…" I let my antennae fall.

"So is that it? No clues?! Augh, this sucks! This is just as bad as the time I let my house flood and water burst the entire second story floor open!"

"Um… can I say something? I wanna talk about something I found. You remember the past two pictures I found?"

Espio turned to face me. "You mean the ones depicting everyone who's deceased so far, right?"

"Yeah, that one. Silver and I uncovered another one."

Everyone got up and got a little closer to me. Everyone except Vector, that is.

"What do you mean another picture?!" Tikal asked. "Who? Who?!"

"It was Blaze and Big," Silver said.

"Those two? But I thought she hated him!" Amy said.

"Could it have to do with the environment change?" Espio asked. "Let me guess, no metal sheets and everyone is happy?"

I nodded.

"I still think Egg Robo faked it but… I did get to see the image up close, so who knows?" Silver added.

"But if it IS, then our theory of it being connected to the deaths of everyone here rings truer. Weirdly, Silver and I were talking about how Rouge wasn't in any of these images."

"It DOES seem a little weird. Still seems fake."

"Well, Egg Robo says it's real. We could write it off as a lie but-"

"Oh, but what?" a sudden voice asked. "Ya trust Egg Robo's word over the words of everyone who's died?"

I could see Vector glaring daggers in my direction. "That's what yer sayin', aintcha? That ya trust his words over the words of yer friends?"

"That's not what I-"

"I'm shocked, Charmy," Vector grinned slyly. "Ya told us we have to believe in one another, and yet yeh refuse to do the same fer the rest of us."

What's going on, Vector? I know I can't tell you but… is THIS the right way to act?

"Boys, stop fighting now," Tikal said. "Whether its fake or not, there is a connection between the images. We can't deny that."

"Don't get fooled by Egg Robo's tricks, Charmy. You'll only give yourself more of a headache," Espio said. As if anything ELSE could interrupt us, a sudden laugh was heard throughout the dining hall.

"Oh wow, I haven't had a good laugh in a while," Wave said, hand on her hip. "Besides, I was just… doing my own research."

"Own research? What on earth are ya up to, Wave?" Vector asked.

"Treating me like a criminal? I'm hurt, Vector. No, I'm just wondering how you all are so foolish to miss one of the most vital clues given to us. I'm talking about the classroom with everything destroyed of course."

"Everything… destroyed?" Amy asked.

"I saw it myself. It's a room where every desk, chair, light, and wall and floor are beyond damaged. Blood and scratches everywhere, it looks like people died there. One of the most rancid smells of death lingers in that room. You're all free to visit, if you'd like."

"I think I'll pass," Tikal replied, turning green in the face.

"Please, no more! That sounds horrifying!" Amy added.

"Yeah, no more! I feel like I'm gonna get cursed! Quickly, someone get me one of my spirit repellant charms! It'll help!" Silver continued.

"Oh, why are you all panicking? It's not like the room will eat you," Wave complained.

"So then why does a room look like how you describe it?!"

"If I had to guess, something very tragic happened there. Perhaps something along the lines of a large amount of deaths, as I said."

"From how?" Espio asked.

"Espio…. Please!" Tikal covered her mouth.

"That's enough, Wave," Vector replied. "I can search on mah own, but the way you describe it, I think it's best if ya dun make everyone uncomfortable here."

"Oh, I don't care about that, and I don't particularly care to tell you about what I found."

"Yer gonna tell us where you were?"

"Not at all. Then again, a nosy detective like you would know where I was, wouldn't he? I was taking a bath. What, can't I?"

Taking a bath? No, she couldn't mean…

"Ah, I see. I think we should all take a bath."

"A bath?" Tikal questioned, looking at Amy. "What's he going on about?"

"He's no doubt talking about Ritz! Man, I could sure go for some when I take my bath!" Silver said.

"Now what are YOU talking about?!"

"I get it now!" Amy smiled. "Come on, Tikal! Let's go take our bath! You need one!"

"Amy, I-"

It was too late, as Amy already began to run out of the dining hall. The others began to follow suite (sans Wave), leaving me behind. No doubt, Ditz had something new for us… and we had to know what it was!

* * *

When I finally arrived, Amy and the laptop was already on the bench, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Come on, let's see what Ditz has to say!" she said.

"Let's not be impatient, otherwise-" Espio said before he was interrupted by… a sneeze.

A sneeze that made Amy fall forward and rise back up, revealing it to be…

"Rosie…" I said.

"WHOAAAAAAAAA, it's a shock to see all of you!" she exclaimed. "Stinky pinky thought she could keep me trapped with herself for the longest while, but just like the most intense orgasm, it's gotta burst SOMEDAY!"

"What is it with you and talking about that kind of stuff…" Silver shook his head.

"When you stop the sex shaming, I will!"

"Look, that's besides the point, can you please move? We need space to sit down and to put the laptop on… y'know, our LAP."

"No problem, my darling Shiruba! Just get on your knees and beg!"

"B-Beg?!"

"Oh, don't deny it my love! You wanna just get on the floor and kiss the floor I step on! You'll be doing that everywhere, not just here but in the bath, the wedding chapel-"

"What are you even going on about anymore?!"

" _Rosie,"_ I said sternly. "I'm gonna ask nicely: if it's fine with you, may you please move so that we can have space?"

"HMMMMMMM? Chimcharm also wants to get on his knees and beg?! Yeah, I KNEW you were."

"Wait, I what?!"

"Watch CLOSELY, my darling Shiruba! Chimcharm is gonna show you how to submit to me! Now go, slave!"

Rosie pulled out a belt from her dress and whipped my legs, causing me to cry out in pain and descend lower to the ground.

"W-Why do you have that?!" I hissed.

"Because it's the only way my darling Shiruba is gonna-"

"Okay okay, enough with the darling Silver stuff, I'll beg!"

Rolling my eyes and trying to avoid the gaze of everyone around me, I got on all fours and lowered my head. "Oh, please, Rosie! Please let me sit down on the bench to let us use the laptop! I beg of you!"

Rosie began to laugh manically. "Oh, you crack me up, Chimcharm!" she then wiped a tear from her eye. "Okay fine, here you are!"

She got up from the chair, and I buzzed back onto the bench, red-faced from embarrassment. Turning on the laptop, the usual bootup sequence occurred as a minute or two later, Ditz finally appeared on screen.

 _"Ah, good evening, Mr. Charmy Bee,"_ it said. _"And it seems your friends are here too. I assume Ms. Wave has told you, correct? I have finally been able to decrypt every file on this laptop."_

"At last…" Espio said.

"Hey, now we're talking!" Silver said.

"So, what does Ditz have to say?" Tikal added.

Just as I hunched over, ready to type, someone walked into my general direction. I could see the beigeness of a coat as I looked up to see Vector glaring down at me. With one fierce voice, he said,

 _"Move."_

Feeling like I had just been stabbed by the sharpest blade imaginable, I quickly set Ditz aside to my side and buzzed off the bench. Vector sat down, took the laptop from where I left it, and put it in his lap as we all watched over from his shoulder. The crocodile began to type.

 ** _"So? What did you find out?"_**

Ditz was silent for a bit before they spoke up. _"After combing through every file this laptop has to offer, I was able to conduct through various documents that there's a plan."_

"A… plan?" Silver asked.

 _"The plan was to isolate the students of Green Hills and create a civilian life for them despite them being trapped within the walls of their zone. That was the original plan, for you all to be kept here temporarily, but at some point, it was decided that you all would stay here for the rest of your lives."_

"And that's what happened to us," Wave said.

 _"This order for you all to stay here indefinitely was created by the headmaster of Green Hills. Why exactly, information does seem obscure._

"T-The headmaster?!" Tikal questioned. "S-So… it's not someone who enjoys death like a killer or some terrorist group but… the zone officials?!"

"But why?!" Silver cried. Vector glared at him.

"Hey, Ditz ain't done," he said.

 ** _"You said information was scarce,"_** Vector typed. **_"What have you found?"_**

 _"Of all the information I have, it seems that your staying in Green Hills is in response to what has been described as, "Mankind's Great Disaster". It's also been called, "The Great Calamity" or "Maraka's Kiss"."_

"Hey, what does any of that mean?" I asked.

Ditz continued. _"Mankind's Great Disaster was an event that happened one year ago, however, this impacted Green Hills. Due to the calamity, they were forced to shut down as a zone, and they had to cut the connection between their warp ring and Mobius. What happened during the Great Disaster remains unclear, but it's likely that judging by the names used for it, it was earth-shattering."_

"So, it's makin' sense…" Vector said. "One year ago, this calamity happened that forced Green Hills to shut down and close the connection of their warp ring. However, of the students left behind, the zone officials decided that they would make the students live the rest of their lives here."

"But the biggest question is… why?" Tikal asked. "Surely this calamity wasn't… THAT bad?"

"I wonder what any of those events could have been…" Espio asked.

Vector typed all their questions, but Ditz had nothing.

 _"My apologies, Mr. Vector. I did not find anything regarding those questions."_

"Sooooo…" Silver said. "…what? That's it? That's EVERYTHING?! We've been expecting Ditz to have all this new information and that's it?!"

 _"…no, no! I forgot something!"_ Ditz suddenly said. _"I found something in regard to the mastermind!"_

I watched as Vector typed faster, making obvious spelling mistakes.

 ** _"Who? Who is the mastermind?"_**

 _"I can't say I know for SURE, but I was able to find some documents in regard to the staff,"_ Ditz replied. _"The one who finalized the plan to keep you all in here was the headmaster, described as being middle-aged and tall. I have every right to believe that the headmaster and the mastermind are one in the same, and that biggest of them all, they may be in this zone as we speak."_

"The… headmaster… is here in this zone?!" Vector asked, for the first time looking… shocked. His jaw slowly dropped as his eyes had an expression of horror that I've never seen him with.

"Then it's settled, the headmaster is the mastermind," Tikal said. "After all, Egg Robo DID describe himself as the headmaster."

"And that makes our real headmaster far more suspicious," Espio added.

"So, what do we do?" Silver asked. "We can't bust down his door!"

"Draw him out, naturally," Wave replied.

Unlike the others, who looked far more determined, Vector put the laptop aside and put his hand on his other elbow.

"I'll… find a way," he said, growling.

"Huh?"

"No matter what…" he turned to face us, looking like a mix of angry and upset. "…I will find the headmaster."

"Vector, what's going on?" Espio asked. "I've never seen you like this."

The crocodile looked at his companion and sighed. "I'm sorry, Espio. It ain't somethin' I can explain easily. I just… know that I gotta find him."

…he has to?

Now I was getting confused. For someone who got on me for keeping a secret, Vector is letting out that he has a secret too each minute. What's going on with you, Vector? And why can't you tell us? Why was your reaction to the headmaster… like that?

Vector huffed. "We should see if Ditz has anythin' else," he sat back on the bench and picked up the laptop again."

He took a deep breath and began to type again. **_"Do you have any more information for us?"_**

Ditz wasn't as helpful this time. _"My apologies, that is everything I've found. All the files on this laptop seem to be old. I do apologize that I have no other good news."_

"So that's it…" Silver bemoaned.

 _"…not quite. You see, looking through the webcam, I'm afraid I don't see Mr. Sonic, Jet, Storm, Big, and Ms. Blaze. What happened to them?"_

We all looked at each other, trying to figure out how to break that all those people they listed are dead. Vector immediately got to typing.

 ** _"They're all dead."_**

 _"A-All of them?... I see… I figured there was a possibility but… I cannot become depressed over this. To think that Mr. Sonic even was a victim… I just hope that he and my master are now resting well."_

 ** _"I'm sorry. You've done your job. Thank you for everything. You can rest now, Ditz"_**

 _"I… see. I hope I was of any help. If you require my services, I am always here. Now initiating shutdown /s /t 0…"_

Ditz's window vanished as the computer returned to the main desktop. Vector placed the laptop to his side.

"So that's it," Espio said. "Ditz helped us in any way it could."

"I think at this point, there's no real reason fer us to use Ditz if they already decrypted all the files," Vector replied.

"But I feel sorry for Ditz…." Tikal said.

"Sorry for- huh? You feel sorry for it?" Silver asked. "It's just a computer program."

"Computer program or not, I felt humanity from Ditz. Like, we really were talking to someone real. It did everything we asked it to."

"Well duh, it's a computer. I dunno if you pacifists use it, but you don't say 'good job' to it every time you're done for the night with it."

"I do use computers! It's just… Ditz is different."

"I think I can agree with you there, Tikal," I said.

"Dude, you too? It's just a-"

"A program, yeah whatever, but what sets Ditz apart is that even if its just AI on a computer, Ditz was written by Tails to be as accurate to a person as it can be. If anything, that's why Tikal feels like we were talking to someone real. Because it could reply to us, read us, and see us. That's why Ditz… is our friend."

'Yeah, when you put it like that, Ditz is definitely our friend!" Tikal smiled.

"I mean, I guess there's nothing wrong with having a computer as your friend if you can have actual conversations with it, is there? And besides, we can always use more friends!" Silver added.

Vector was someone who didn't agree, as he stared at Silver until he was done. "Anyway…"

"Don't anyway me, Vector!"

"We did all that we could. As of now, Ditz's role is over."

"I mean, I don't-" I replied until he cut me off.

"And quite frankly, Charmy, I question who you even BOTHER to call a friend or not."

My heart shattered in two when he said that. Do you really think that, Vector?

"We're getting off track," Espio said. "I think it's important that we discuss what Ditz told us."

"Yeah! Like… who on the zone board or something decided it would be okay to have us start killing each other?!" Silver questioned.

"Well, Ditz did mention that this all started one year ago."

"The event that's called Mankind's Great Disaster…" Tikal added.

"If it's described like that, it must have been huge," I said. "But… I don't remember anything like that. Do you?"

Silver and Tikal shook their heads.

"I had no access to news in my village," Espio added.

"As fer the aftermath, it seems like that event cause Green Hills to shut down. If I had to guess, perhaps the event had something to do with this zone?"

"Maybe all the students died!" Silver said.

"Nonsense," Espio replied. "I'm sure we all would have heard about something like that if it did happen."

"Then it could also be a cover up!" Tikal said. "Who knows what ties Green Hills has in terms of economic or political power."

"Well, when you describe it like that, that makes more sense."

"Come on, we pay taxes and shit and THIS is what we get?!" Silver threw his arms up in the air. "Man, I knew I was right joining that "Down with Capitalism" page on FriendSpace!"

"Unfortunately, what we're coming up with right now are theories. The only way we can prove any of this is if we can ask the headmaster himself," Vector replied, grabbing his arm. "If we even can that is…"

"Our issue seems to mainly arise if we can actually reach the headmaster ourselves," Espio replied.

"…then as of right now, there's not much we can do."

"So that's it for tonight, HUH?!" Rosie questioned. "Sorry for being all silent, I got too caught up with… AHHH-CH-"

Her sneeze was caught off as Rosie sneezed hard, her eyes and demeanor returning back to Amy.

"H-Huh? What the? I was just-" she said before looking at the rest of us. "Oh… Oh no, it was Rosie again, wasn't it? Damn it! I thought I was finally able to free myself from her for the time being!"

"Let me fill you in with everything…" Tikal said. "Boys, I think you can go on ahead."

* * *

Before we could even leave the bathhouse, there was someone already waiting for us with hands on his hips.

"It's almost LIKE you guys want me to be mad at you!" he said.

"Hey, you're not mad about like… what I said about the headmaster's office, right?" Silver asked.

"Oh, I got over THAT ages ago! No, I'm talking how my eggshell is gonna go RED with rage! And it'll EXPLODE!"

"H-Hey, don't get so angry-"

"Lemme tell you all THIS: if you all do something to me, I WILL do something back. Do we understand?!"

"Jeez, who pissed in your cereal?"

Egg Robo glared at Silver before vanishing. The white hedgehog shrugged.

"What's your thoughts?"

We all looked at each other and shook our heads.

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

The bell reminded us that it was nighttime, and Egg Robo appeared on the monitor.

 _"Mm, ahem,"_ He began. _"This is a zone announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the motobugs bite..."_

"Well, looks like it's time fer bed," Vector said. "What's our plan? Blaze is the one who came up with the nighttime rule, but since she's dead…"

"I think it should be for the best that we avoid the night still," Espio said.

"It makes me feel more comfortable, that's for sure," Silver added.

"Very well," Vector nodded, returning to his room as everyone including myself did so. As I lay on my bed, I thought back to what we learned. Everything here was planned by the administrators of Green Hills, due to the results of "Mankind's Great Disaster", and that the headmaster is the one responsible. Everything about what I learned made me worried. What did they mean? Not just for now but for our future.

And does any of this have to do with what I learned about Espio the other night? Did Espio know who the mastermind was? And if so…

No, there's no way. I was being silly. I still wanted to continue believing that what I said wasn't what I thought it was.

But there was a point I had to stop playing pretend…

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"For all intents and purposes, you might think a robot like me would just be called, "Robo". Well, first, Square Enix called and they wanted my money. And second, I went with Egg Robo when I went out for dinner with my friend Humpty. We had ourselves some fantastic hibachi, and during the time our chef was making our fried rice, he was cracking a lot of eggs to make the rice. Well, Humpty took offense to this and asked the chef if he could stop with the egg abuse. The chef looked at him and then proceeded to use Humpty as his egg. Oh, did I mention that Humpty was one of the eggs used to make the fried rice and not my date? Anyway, my meal was so good that it inspired me to take up the name, "Egg Robo" as a reminder of my delicious meal. And that's the backstory of my name!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	34. Chapter 5 (Daily Life 2)

_(AN: Enjoying my freedom? You bet! It won't be long before my parents get home, but being done with school for the semester should hopefully give me more time to write, just probably gonna be busy for the rest of October with other things, but hey, there's drama here! You guys like that... right?_

 _Angsty drama bottles, get your angsty drama bottles...)_

* * *

 _"I'm sorry, Egg Robo… I can't be with you anymore!" an Egg Robo wearing a wig said, wiping her tears with a tissue and then blowing her nose into it._

 _"Oh, but Claudia Robo!" Egg Robo bemoaned, hand over his head. "How could you ever be so cruel as to deny my love? Weren't all my heart shaped boxes, two-bouquets-of-roses-a-day, and song every night before you went to bed satisfying for your love, mi amor?"_

 _"Egg Robo, you know my father forbids this relationship!"_

 _"Forget your father, Claudia Robo! I had him for breakfast!"_

 _"I… wait, you what?"_

 _"Yes! I bonked your father over the head and had him for breakfast! Now no one can deny us of this love!"_

 _"You… murdered my father?!"_

 _"Not only is that my job, I also said goodbye to your Egg Chao too!"_

 _"N-Not my Egg Chao! Egg Robo, you absolute-"_

 _"I used the rest of them to make the most delicious macaroni and cheese!"_

 _Claudia Robo stopped in her tracks as it took her a few seconds to process what he had said. When she did, the scene cut to both Egg and Claudia Robo eating macaroni and cheese on a step._

 _"You see, dear readers? When you have someone in your life you don't like, murder them and use what's left of them for your dinner or something! The problem will take care of itself, and you'll have a bomb meal in there as well!" Egg Robo said, munching on some more mac-n-cheese._

* * *

I got myself quickly out of bed just in time for the morning announcement to play. Something about today made me feel uneasy, and I wasn't sure what. Maybe it was the fact that I'd royally pissed off one of my friends, or maybe it was the fact that one of my OTHER friends could be a traitor to us all. Regardless, I blocked out Egg Robo's morning message as I prepared myself for the day, leaving my room once I showered up.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **He said: Mankind's pain comes from lies and truths**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 2**

After leaving my room and heading down the hall, I noticed there were quite a few people on their way to the dining hall. I saw Silver, Tikal, and even Wave (although she was more so standing by the wall near the bathhouse). I figured it would be best if I talked to them to see what they had to say about what we learned from Ditz last night. First up was Silver, who was looking to his left and right down the hall from our rooms. I buzzed up to him.

"Morning Silver!" I said, holding up my hand.

"W-Whoa, Charmy!" he replied, off guard. "Thank goodness you came now. Any earlier and I think Vector would have my head."

"Vector would… hang on, what are you doing?"

"He told me to keep an eye on you, and that don't stop until he left the dining hall."

"Is he still that mad at me…." I let my antennae fall.

"Dude, I'm not sure what's going on with you two, but I think you guys REALLY need to patch things up. You were like, best bros too! What happened?"

"…I'm still not even sure."

"ANYWAY, your depression aside, I'm gonna go to the dining hall since I haven't had anything to eat all morning. Catch you there soon!"

Silver turned around and walked to the dining hall, away from me ** _,_** a fitting metaphor to describe how Vector and I were like right now.

After the silver hedgehog left, I then walked over to Tikal, who stood in the middle of the hall. She was murmuring something as she held her prayer beads close to her face.

"Good morning, Tikal," I said, hoping I didn't interrupt her meditation. She turned to face me.

"Oh, Charmy! Good morning!" she said. "Hey… good job on yesterday's little… spiel!"

"Spiel?"

"You know, how you were talking about Ditz being our friend and we shouldn't give up on them. I've been thinking a lot about who I am as a person and what my ideals stand for since I first arrived. Before coming to Green Hills, I was a very silent person who took abuse daily, both online and in my real life. Thanks to people like you and… and Shadow… I think that I've become stronger now. I find myself standing up for others and… even myself. Granted, I never want to get violent, but I feel your strength wherever I go. And your speech last night reminded me that Ditz is our ally, and even if their purpose has been served, we still got to know more than we already did. You always know how to put stuff like that into _words_ perfectly, and for that, I couldn't be any more thankful!"

"Aw, geez…" I said, rubbing the back of my head. "It was nothing, really… It's just the truth after all. But you must be strong too, like the rest. There's no need to be violent, just… you can be our words person."

"Got it! I'm very good with words! My speeches have all prepared me for the moment in which I need them the most! I swear, Charmy… Even with your ultimate talent being "Ultimate Average Student", it's like you know how to subvert that and become… cool."

"Cool? I mean, it usually comes during the class trials, and I'm just praying we don't die really…"

"Don't sell yourself short, Charmy! With my ability to be passionate with words, your coolness, and the strength of the others, we'll get out of here for sure! But first, let's have some breakfast, okay?"

"Got it!"

Tikal ran off before me as I thought to head into the dining hall, my mind almost forgetting that Vector bailed because he didn't want me around. That was until I saw Wave standing by the bathhouse. I figured now could be my chance to ask about what she saw last night.

"…what do you want?" she asked when she saw me walk up to her.

"Hey, no need to get hostile. I thought you were enjoying being with us. Why aren't you in the dining hall?" I replied.

"Just because I'm there sometimes doesn't mean I'm going to be friendly. I thought I explained it to you. Jet and Storm might be gone, but I'm not some kind of friendship convert. The only thing we have in common is the same enemy."

"Speaking of the same enemy, what did you think about-"

"If you're going to finish that sentence, let me tell you something, bee. DON'T."

Wave walked off before I could respond. I figured this had to do with the cameras, as I looked up only to see a camera close by. Good thing I didn't let out what I said…

After ignoring Wave, I buzzed on over to the dining hall where I saw Tikal, Silver, Espio, and Amy all seated.

"Ah, Charmy! You're the only one who hasn't had breakfast!" Amy said when she saw me. "Sit down, I made this DELICIOUS omelet that I bet you're just DYING to try!"

"Well, I didn't know you were making such a thing, but if you are putting something like that on such a high pedestal, well, who am I to say no?"

Sitting down, I watched as Amy got up and skipped to the kitchen, bringing out a plate with an omelet on it seconds later.

"Careful, the plate's hot!" she said, as I noticed the mittens on her hand. "I had it in the oven on low heat just warming up, waiting for you. The others really liked it, especially Vector! He scarfed his down quickly and said he didn't want to be around the dining hall any longer. I bet he loved it that much!"

"Vector… left?" I asked.

"Is something going on with you two, Charmy?" Tikal asked. "Something about the way Vector has been both yesterday and today is rubbing me the wrong way. You aren't fighting a fight, are you?"

"No!" I replied, trying to get them off my back. "I mean yes! I mean- argh!" I put my hands over my eyes. "It's hard to explain."

"Man, Charmy! You sure are dirty for hurting your best friend!" Amy said. "You know what I would do if I were you! Buy my friend some jewelry and a meal of their choice!"

"I can't do anything like that here!"

"Oh… well, I'm out of ideas."

"Charmy… if it's okay, we can talk in private about what's bothering you," Espio said. Now that was the LAST thing I wanted if you asked me. But… maybe that IS what I needed. Now that Vector wasn't here, I felt more comfortable. And plus, he DID say privately…

"Actually, Espio… I can."

"Ah, so now after making Vector mad, he's gonna make Espio mad next!" Amy said.

"No, I'm not!"

"I know I made an offer but… I think it will take some time for me to have a talk with you. I'm in… a bit of pain today. I have been for a few days now," Espio replied. "Oh, don't give me that look. It's just minor pains and aches. I'm not dying."

But I wasn't looking at him because I was worried about what kind of pain it was…

I was worried because of HOW he got it. Come to think of it, the only thing I could think of where he got his pain from… was the fight he had with Egg Robo. The sounds of metal clanging and sparks flying filled my mind as I was taken back to that night.

"Is everything okay, Espio?" Tikal asked. "It's not like you to want to take a day off for some pain."

"It'll be fine, Tikal," he replied. "Some protein and some sleep should do me fine."

"If you say so… just, don't overexert yourself, okay?"

"Aw, it's like Tikal is your mom, Espio!" Silver said.

"I don't want to think about those implications!" Tikal blushed. Espio looked at the two and then back to me.

"My apologies. I'm sure you wish to talk now but let us please save it for tomorrow. I promise I'll listen to you."

I simply looked at my uneaten omelet and then back at Espio. "…okay."

"Regardless, Charmy. I still think you should patch things up _with Vector_. It could spell bad news soon," Tikal said to me. I looked at her when she said this. Surely, Vector wouldn't be the type to kill whenever he got THIS mad… right?

"Charmy? Are you gonna have my omelet or not?!" Amy questioned, tearing me from my trance.

"Alright, I'm going!"

And so, I ate all of Amy's rather delicious omelet. Had it not been for recent goings-on _,_ however, I think I would have enjoyed it more. The more I thought about everything, the more the omelet got stuck in my throat and the more it became harder to swallow. I was able to manage however and finished the rest of my breakfast. After thanking Amy for the meal and washing my plate just to be extra nice, I returned to my room where I simply just… thought.

I thought back to the scene of making Vector mad, and it just repeated in my head. I wasn't sure WHY I was so fixated on that of all things. It continued to play over and over and-

"Stop!" I yelled, throwing my pillow at the wall. The more I kept alone to my thoughts, the more I felt like I was going to be driven up the wall. I had to get away from my room, find SOMEONE to talk to, find SOMETHING to distract myself.

After getting my pillow off the floor and placing it atop my bed, I left me room and headed right on down the hall.

 **FREE TIME**

With Vector still hating me and Espio being unavailable, my choices for who I could hang out with were very limited. I only had Silver, Wave, and Tikal, which were fine enough choices as is, but what even happened to the days of having ten or more people to talk to?

"At least you understand me, kendama toy…" I said, holding one of the gifts I got from the gashapon machine in the zone store. I sighed, slumping on the floor as my pile of capsules lay next to me. "Even the machine has lost its charm… Even all this cool stuff has lost its charm. Even-"

I was interrupted by the door to the zone store opening.

"You, bee," a sudden and cranky voice said. I looked up to see Wave with her arms crossed.

"…even seeing other people right now makes you miss your friends," I said to myself.

"What are you even mumbling on about?"

"N-Nothing."

"Good, now come with me."

"Alright, hold on just… lemme-"

"Forget the toys, this is serious."

Wave grabbed my hand as she dragged me out of the zone store and up many flights of stairs until we were at the fifth floor. We went to the garden as she let go, pointing at the Egg Robo flower.

"I heard it from the village idiot himself," she said. "That you know a lot about flowers. Tell me more about this… plant."

"The… Egg Robo flower?"

"No, the sunflowers right by it. Yes, of course the Egg Robo flower!"

"I mean, I've never seen a flower like it, and what I DO know is only what was relayed to me by Egg Robo. Why? What's so special about it?"

"I have a theory as to what this flower does. Hear me out: so far, we've seen many deaths as a result of people being murdered or executed. What ISN'T explained is where the dead end up. There seems to be no morgue here, and you can't just leave a dead body lying around without it decomposing. So? Tell me if the flower smells like death so we know whether or not this thing… is where the dead end up."

"Is there a reason you're curious-"

"Just go!"

"Well I'd love to but… Egg Robo said it's not a good idea to get close. Here, I'll show you why."

Buzzing over to one of the trees in the distance, I was able to pull out a branch and extend it out, so it touched the pistil. When it connected, the branch began to melt away and the leaves, which were once green with life, began sagging and turning brown before being devoured by the Egg Robo flower.

"Yeah, that's why I probably shouldn't get close," I said, putting the rest of the branch into the pistil.

"Ugh, fine, whatever," Wave said. I looked at her, turning my head.

"Is everything alright?"

"…if they were really put in there, then…"

"Wave."

"…never mind. Look, I already came what I needed for, so just go away. I don't want you to bother me more than you already are."

"Aw, don't be like that. Turn that frown upside down and…"

Was I SERIOUSLY considering asking Wave to hang out with me? The girl who has hated my guts ever since she laid eyes on me?

Well, it was worth a shot-

"…come and hang out?"

"Hang out? You idiot, as if I want to be seen dead with you," she replied. "But, if you want to have your presence blessed by my pure existence, then I guess I can appease at least THAT part of you."

And so, Wave and I hung out in the garden, Hung out however, was putting it very lightly, as every time I tried to make conversation, Wave seemed super disinterested in what I was talking about. So… could I even say if we got closer today?

What didn't help my case was when, before I could even reach into my pockets, Wave stopped me.

"Giving me presents isn't going to win my side. I hope you know this, bee."

She REALLY wasn't liking me still. She continued to look at me, turned away.

"I don't get your insistence with wanting to hang out with me. I have nothing to offer you, our goals are different, and yet, you still believe in this friendship nonsense."

"W-Well, I like to see how you're evolving as a person. That's why I get to know others, so I know more about them and befriend them. It's not like we have much to do here."

"Evolve as a person? Bee, my friends are dead, I'm stuck with people I don't like, and NOW you want to decide that you get to see me… evolve? Thanks, but I'd rather choke on a piece of cheese."

"Can you at least get out of your bubble for once and talk to others without bringing them down?!"

Wave looked at me.

"I get it, okay…" I said. "You guys were the best racing team and you had your lives all planned out, and now it's been ruined thanks to this killing game. Even when they were alive, you all kept to yourselves. But even Jet and Storm wanted to know me better. Storm told me about his past and… and Jet said he wouldn't mind teaching me how to ride a board… even if it came at a cost. Just… open your mind?"

Wave crossed her arms and turned away. "…fine. How do you suppose you… no, we hang out?"

"Well, I guess I could start with asking what you like but that is kinda subjective since I already know… I guess what I could ask is… what do you like to do besides doing mechanic's work? I don't really know a lot about you besides your status and who you are as a person. Hell, I don't even know your favorite food."

"…it's parfait."

"Huh? Parfait?"

"I remember there was a boardwalk near where I used to live, which was years before I met Jet and Storm and learned of my heritage. They had this stand that sold a bunch of snacks, and while most of the kids got like, ice cream or popcorn, I always went with parfaits. The fruits in it were delicious and it's such a huge comfort food for me. At least, as long as its not that supermarket crap."

"See! You're getting there! I mean, I can't say I've had many parfaits but I had one with soursop and dragon fruit as a part of this 'weirdest food' contest my school had."

"I'm not the biggest fan of dragon fruit, but soursop? How did they get that? I thought you couldn't get it in this part of Mobius?"

"Turns out, the kid who made it had some family that lived in the tropical part of the planet and he had access to as much as he could, which he passed by through airport security. They regularly brought it here, and I think that helped it out a lot."

"I would like to try that…"

"Ha ha, see? Isn't it actually fun to finally have something to talk about?"

"Okay, so maybe you might crack me just this once, but just because you found ONE weak point doesn't mean I'm gonna be friendly. You can't just expect me to only talk about parfaits and that's it."

"That's why there's a next time!"

"A next time? Kill me, please."

Even despite her sour mood, I could tell that deep down, Wave was happy to have someone to talk to. I knew that since Jet and Storm's death, her coping mechanism was to retreat and pretend like she could fend for herself. But even the loneliest of people need someone who can hear their voices, no matter how small or stubborn. That's why, despite her personality, I felt like I got to know Wave better…

The swallow and I parted ways as I spent the rest of my morning and early afternoon in the library, reading. I would be on the fifth floor where everyone was, but I wondered if reading all the books here would give us any clue. I mean, it turned Sonic into a smartass…

"Gosh, I hope I don't become one too…" I said to myself. After a few books that I read from front to back however, skimming through parts I found too boring, I found that no such thing happened. I didn't become a smartass, but I didn't learn anything new about our situation or what 'The Great Calamity' was.

As I buzzed out of the library, I began to ponder on about the Great Calamity. If it was described at this world-shattering event, then where WERE we? I took a warp ring and went through a ring dimension… so, was I in the middle of the ring dimension? Was I still not on Mobius? Was I dead, and this zone was limbo?

All of these and many other questions were ones that were raised in my head, but never got answered. And they certainly weren't answered when I bumped into someone's back. Falling back, I looked up to see a cyan hooded individual turn around.

"Huh, Charmy?" Silver asked.

"Oh, I didn't see you there. Sorry, Silver," I replied.

"H-Hey, no problem! I was just in the mood for something to eat."

"What time is it?"

"Uh… almost 11."

"Almost 11? It's not even time for lunch!"

"Hey, I never said it was lunch! I like to call this my well-deserved snack for today."

"Did you do anything to deserve it?"

"…no… but that's not important! I deserve it cause I'm living another day!"

"So basically… it's because you're hungry, right?"

"…yeah. Wanna join me?"

* * *

And so, I joined Silver's food binging shenanigans as he made a huge ice cream sundae topped with whipped cream, a cherry, and a few banana slices.

"Not some for me?" I asked.

"Hey, make your own! I'm not your mom," Silver replied, rolling my eyes. I stared as he walked away as I made myself a bowl of chocolate ice cream, grabbing a spoon and joining Silver as he dug into his 'snack'.

"Mmm-mm-mmmm!" Silver said, digging in. "Man, for us getting infinite meals, this might be the only thing I'll miss if we leave from here!"

"At least Egg Robo is considerate in not letting us die," I replied.

"I mean, if he did, then he wouldn't have anyone to play his little game. And that's not what he wants, now is it?"

"I guess you're not wrong there, Still, one has to wonder where he gets the food from. I mean, if we can get snacks you find at a grocery store… does that mean this whole Great Calamity thing was a hoax? What if we're eating expired food? What if-"

"Eh, don't think about the what ifs, Charmy. I think that whole thing happened, but Egg Robo prepares everything. I mean, look at him. He's superhuman… err… robot?"

"I guess… How are you still calm? You're either usually really calm or freaking out and being an idiot."

"Hey, I take offense to that! And I knew you were gonna make that remark too!"

"Answer the question."

"If you were to ask me… I think it has to do with the mastermind. I mean, why else is their door closed? What's really going on in there? Maybe the mastermind is growing drugs in his room and that's why he can connect to the outside world!"

"Oh stop kidding yourself, if the Great Calamity was this world shattering thing, who'd buy drugs at a time like that?"

"I know you love that kush, Charmy, but can I eat?"

"I… I don't even smoke! You look like someone who would smoke it with how much you're eating!"

Silver looked at his stack of ice cream and then back at me. "…shit, I guess you're right."

As I finished up my bowl of ice cream and watched Silver eat the rest of his, I felt like Silver and I got a little closer from our talk. At least, I THINK we did. He was being his usual self…

Nevertheless, I got out my pile filled with capsules and picked out a gift that I thought the white hedgehog would like: a portable game console. If anything, I saw Silver as the most likely person here to play video games. And sure enough, when he saw that, he just looked at it and then back to me.

"What? What is this?" he asked.

"A gift. Thought you'd like it."

"No way…. A gaming console? But… how'd you sneak one here?"

"I didn't sneak one, I won it from the gashapon machine in the zone store."

"Charmy… I-"

He then got up, walked over to my side, and hugged me.

"Thank you…" he said.

"Y-You're… welcome," I replied, as he undid from the hug and returned to his chair, eating the rest of his meal.

"Ahh… that was delicious…" Silver said, wiping his mouth with his hoodie sleeve.

"Hey, Silver…" I began. "Tell me… with all this time that I've known you, I haven't gotten to know… well, YOU."

"Know me?"

"As in, who is Silver the Hedgehog? What type of person is he? That kind of thing."

"Ah… I see! Well, if you need to know, I'm your man!"

"I know you are, cause you ARE Silver."

"Well…" Silver put his spoon in his bowl of now eaten sundae. "I think the first thing you need to do to understand me is to understand ESP."

"That's right, Blaze said that there are those born with kinetic abilities. Hers was pyro, but yours is telekinesis?"

"Yup! People like me are few and far in between, it's just I managed to control my powers early on. My parents said I'd be something special, and I think that's the motivation I used to continue honing my power. The last recorded person with telekinesis was my Grandpa, who I likely inherted it from."

"That seems real interesting… but what did you mean when you said to understand you, I had to understand ESP?"

"Some people like to think what I do is just some cheap party trick or it's just an illusion. But you can tell that none of that is fake. It's all real. At least, it's better to have people that think you're fake than those who fear you."

"People were afraid of you like they were with Blaze?"

"Oh nooooo, not on the same level as her. But it was people who didn't understand me at all that had a problem with me. They were afraid of things that were outside of the norm. And to those people, I was a perfect example of something outside of the norm."

"Yeesh, did you get abuse thrown at you?"

"I did in my primary zone years. It stopped around my second year after I got so mad at a kid that I threw him against the wall. It made my whole class afraid of me and I got suspended for a week, but it was worth it seeing the look on his face. But seeing others fear me just… didn't sit right with me. I think it was there that helped set me on the right track to doing good things for the right reasons using my power."

"Wow… and, what else did you do besides what I already know?"

"Well… um…. How about I leave that for another day? I don't think I'm ready to talk about that QUITE yet."

"Sure, I have no qualms."

Silver nodded as he got up, taking his bowl back to the kitchen to wash it as I looked at mine, long empty. It seemed like for all the times he'd been a setback to us during our investigations and during our trials, Silver really did try his best, no matter how well or not he did it. When I heard that, I think it helped me gain a lot more motivation about myself. When the time came… I thought I wanted to hear the rest of his story…

* * *

For the rest of the day, I found myself doing nothing. While Vector and Espio were nowhere to be found, I was excited as soon as the day was ending, as I'd finally be able to talk to Espio about everything. All night, I looked at the clock, agonizing as I watched the second hand move clockwise, hoping for our good night message.

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

I gasped as the zone's symbol appeared on the monitor, and Egg Robo appeared. Finally, some closure… finally, an answer from Espio.

At least, that's what I thought of until I heard his message.

 _"Attention everyone!"_ Egg Robo said. _"I understand that nighttime is close to dawning upon us all, but we all need to have a VERY urgent meeting at the gym right now. Come quickly, please!"_

My heart shrank more and more until that final sentence, where I felt it crack in half. I thought I finally would have an answer… but all I got was Egg Robo… and his MOTIVE…!

Wasn't he done? Wasn't it cruel that he just subjected us to more and more of this? I felt like my morality was stripped more as time progressed, and I didn't know if that scared me or not.

After coming out of my room, I didn't see anyone. Not a single soul was in sight, and the only sounds heard came from the lights above. I buzzed down the hall and through the main part of the first floor, tired that this song and dance kept happening to us the more we continued to stay here. Reaching the main gym doors, I opened them only to see… Espio.

"Huh? Espio? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Preparing myself mentally for what's going to happen. I guarantee this is what I think it is…"

"E-Espio?"

"…Charmy, if… if something happens… make sure Vector doesn't become too enraged with not just everyone else, but with me too…"

He walked into the gym, leaving me behind. Once he left, my heart sank.

"I know…. I know what this is about."

I wanted to run away, to not even face Egg Robo, to hide and cover my ears and eyes and believe what I was going to hear and see was going to be lies. I hoped that even as I entered the gym, seeing everyone else by the podium. No one said anything, and it was clear that with the expressions of fear, anguish, and uncertainty that we weren't sure what to expect. We weren't even sure once Egg Robo popped up onto the podium as he usually did.

"Well, you're all finally he-" Egg Robo said before Wave interrupted him.

"Lemme guess, new motive?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't play dumb. You've been doing this song and dance five times now, you've baited us with seeing our loved ones, not wanting our secrets out, money, and the ability to change anything about ourselves. What's your motive THIS time? Making us have to eat one gallon of vegemite for every meal?"

"That DOES sound like a good motive, doesn't it? But nope! That's not it!"

"So it's a d-different motive?" Tikal questioned.

"Aren't you done taking our lives?" Amy added.

"PLEEEEEASE, NO MORE!" Silver screamed.

"Geez, hush you babies! I haven't even said WHAT it is!" Egg Robo said in anger. "I'm not here to talk motives… Well, SORT of."

"What does… sort of mean?" Vector questioned.

"Come on, kiddos, why don't you all sit in Uncle Egg Robo's lap while he tells you a fable!"

"You don't even have a lap to sit on, and please… never call yourself that ever again," I said.

"Well, now I'm Daddy Egg Robo since it makes Charmy very uncomfortable that I refer to myself as uncle, why not make him even MORE uncomfortable?! Now, with him shut up, I want you all to listen to the tale… of the Egg with a Grudge…"

"Do we have to?" Wave question.

"Ho ho ho, yes!"

* * *

 _"Once upon a time, there existed an egg man. An… EGGMAN, if you so put it. And he loved to make the lives of other people miserable. One day, someone came to the egg man with a proposal._

 _"Mr. Egg Man! Not only do I want to learn how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, I want to join you in your crusade to make other people's lives miserable!" the person said._

 _"Oh really?" the egg man replied. "And what can you do to prove to me that you'd be loyal to my cause?"_

 _"Well, you know that group of people you like to terrorize? Well, why don't I become their spy! I'll act all buddy buddy with them, and then BOOM! Kill them all!"_

 _"Mr. Sir, that's a brilliant idea!"_

 _And so, the egg man and the person worked together, with the person sabotaging his new 'friends' and none of them ever finding out. This satisfied the egg man until he found the person as becoming more friendly with his new group of friends. And then the little bastard BACKSTABBED THE EGG BECAUSE HE'S AN INCONSIDERATE PRICK WHO DESERVES TO BE TIED UP AND SHOT AT THE LITTLE BUGGER, ARGHGHHHHHH!_

* * *

Egg Robo took deep breaths as we looked at him.

"Are you… okay?" I asked.

"Give… me… a… minute…" the robot replied. "I need... to breathe…"

"Do you need me to boil some hot water?" Silver asked.

"No need, no need…"

"So, what was the message of this fable?" Wave asked.

Egg Robo, who was seconds ago looking like he was on the verge of exploding, turned back to his usual self as he looked at Wave. "Well, I'm glad you asked that Ms. Wave! My fable was all about how you should never trust the people around you, because you never know if they could be a backstabber."

"Where are you going with this?..."

"Oh, you know EXACTLY where! You even said so yourself: There could… be a spy!"

My eyes widened.

"I did say that, what about it?"

"It's that I'm going to reveal who it is! Drumroll please!"

Egg Robo raised his hands in the air, eyes closed. He then opened them. "Drum roll! DRUM ROLL!"

There was no such cue. "Ugh, gotta execute those drum players it seems. No matter, I'll just stop beating around the bush and tell you who it is. The spy is Espio the Chameleon!"

Even though I wanted to believe that what I saw was fake, even though I knew that what Espio was talking about in the lobby had nothing to do with it, I couldn't hide from this truth.

Espio was the spy…

This fact got everyone talking and staring at the chameleon, who had his eyes closed.

"What… did you just say?!" Silver asked.

"He said that the spy is _Espio_ ," Wave said with venom in her voice.

"N-No! That's wrong!" Tikal replied, running in front of Espio and shielding him. "There's no way Espio would be the spy, right?"

She turned to face him, hoping that he would confirm what she said. But once she realized he wasn't denying it…

"Isn't that fact more exciting? Maybe I might have Espio carry out what I wanted HIM to do!" Egg Robo said. "If he doesn't…. I'm not responsible for what happens to my hostage! Anyway, here's your motive or whatever! Espio is the spy! Take of it as you will! If you wanna kill him, go right ahead! If you wanna keep him alive and have him kill one of you, that's fine by me! Just a little revenge for trying to defy me. How do ya like them apples, huh Espio? Don't you feel happy that your friends are mad at you?"

He said nothing in response.

I now finally got what he meant the other day… 'Do something to me, I'll do it back'. Betrayal… for betrayal…

"Now that I got that out of my system, use that information however you want to!"

Egg Robo vanished, leaving the rest of us to face Espio.

"I-Is it true, Espio? Y-You're working for the mastermind?!" Silver questioned, freaking out.

"Of course not!" Tikal said. "There's no way!"

"I want to believe you but… Egg Robo said so!" Amy added.

"It could be a trick!"

"Espio…" Vector stepped in front of his friend. "If what Egg Robo is sayin' is a lie, then all ya need to do is tell us."

But he turned from Vector and shut his eyes, not wanting to look at him.

"I'm sorry, Vector. I should have told you sooner."

"W-What…"

I could tell how surprised Vector was about this, almost like he… didn't expect it.

"OH NOOOOOOO! HE'S BEING SERIOUS!" Silver cried.

"How much have you been lying to us?..." Amy said, covering her mouth.

"Y-You're being forced to say this, aren't you, Espio?" Tikal asked. "This is out of your will, this is-"

"…completely his doing," I said. "His doing in something that he's being forced to do. Two nights ago, I happened to stumble across your fight with Egg Robo, which is what I've been panicking about since. I heard Egg Robo talk about a hostage, and you heard him too. Espio however, mentioned that he wanted to fight the mastermind, which explains why he betrayed them."

"So… you saw that. That's why you were clearly anxious…" Espio replied.

"I should have brought it up, but… that doesn't matter. What matters is that this hostage of yours, who or WHATEVER Egg Robo has, it meant more to you, so that's why you made up your mind to betray Egg Robo, right?"

"And what does that mean?" Wave asked, walking up to us. "That we can just trust Espio and that he's our… friend? Are you suggesting we trust him without any care in the world? Ridiculous. What kind of candy land world do you live in? Even if he betrayed the mastermind, that doesn't erase that he was the mastermind's tool."

"I'll be honest, I kinda have to go with Wave on this one…" Silver said. "How are we not sure this whole thing is a sham? I mean… I can't even process this!"

I was in utter shock. Was Wave trying to rile the rest of us into going against Espio?

"How could you say that, Silver!" Tikal exclaimed. "Espio would never do that!"

"Okay then, how about this?" Wave asked. "Espio? If you've cut ties with the mastermind, I'm sure you have NO problems in telling us who they REALLY are, right?"

But Espio looked solemn. "…I'm sorry, even I don't know that."

"So you don't know? That just makes you more suspicious."

"That's enough, Wave," I sternly said.

"That's enough? THAT'S ENOUGH?! Bee, I'm not done questioning him. Sit there and SHUT UP. Now, for my next question: what is this promise that you're keeping? What did the mastermind order from you?"

"…the mastermind gave me an order… to kill one of my friends."

I heard Tikal loudly gasp as I felt my heart sink lower than it had over the past few days,

"No…" I said.

"So, that's how it is with you? You've taken aim on our lives," Wave said, that annoying smug look on her face.

"Espio would NEVER do that! Why aren't you all listening to me!" Tikal said with passion in her voice, tears starting to form. Espio however, just looked at her.

"It's okay, Tikal. There's no need to continue defending me."

"B-But Espio!" I said, needing to interject. "I've known you for so long… I know that you aren't someone who kills because they want to, but only when it's necessary, but you'd never go as far as to kill your friends. You're the Ultimate Ninja, you LIVE by a set of strict rules that governs your life. Surely that doesn't end there when you're the mastermind's puppet! And-And…"

"Charmy, what did I say?... I know, you must be saddened by what you heard but… I want to make amends with all of you."

"…how do you plan to do that?" Vector asked.

"Simple. Take the mastermind's life. Even if I die doing so…"

Now my heart was racing. "Espio, y-you can't!"

"Charmy… Vector… I feel regretful not telling you two. I could tell this was eating you both inside. Either one of you should have been aware of this, and yet, I took the coward's way out to protect you. I'm sorry."

Espio walked off as I tried to rush after him.

"Espio, wait!"

Before he could leave, with one quick swoosh, he grabbed my arm.

"I said it's okay to be angry. You don't have to continue defending me," he said, staring at me until he let go of my arm and left. I simply stood there suspended, looking at the door. I heard the nighttime bell but didn't even bother to look at it. My face was fallen, and I felt my world collapsing by the second.

"Well, it seems its nighttime now," Wave said. "We should all get to bed."

I turned around at stared at her, buzzing closer to the swallow. "What do you mean we should all go to bed?... We're not done! This whole thing about Espio is-"

She then got in my face. "Over. We're done. Espio is the spy and is our enemy. There's nothing more to discuss."

"Why can't you stop being stubborn and see it the other way?!"

Wave got even closer. "See it the other way?! Tell me bee: What did YOU know about Espio? If you apparently didn't even know about this until two nights ago, are you even qualified to tell ME to see this the other way?"

"That!-"

Vector interrupted me, talking to me for the first time. "Let it go, Charmy."

"But!-"

"No more. Let it go."

I growled loudly as I buzzed back to my room, on the verge of tears. This night couldn't end on such a worse mood, Espio was the traitor, Silver and Wave were against him, and now… I couldn't help but think about Espio's safety now that he was exposed.

But was he really told to kill one of us? It's not like Espio to do that… is it?

No, no… I was just playing into what Egg Robo and Wave wanted me to feel: angry. I refused to be angry, I had to… I had to be positive. I had to be there for Espio… heaven knew what he was feeling like now that his secret was exposed.

As I went to bed, my body was shaking, and I felt cold. I simply wished I had someone or something to hold to let me know that I was okay like when I was a kid… but no such thing came.

I just hoped nothing drastic happened…

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Do you think that there's something in the life of a Sonic character that they regret either doing or saying? Like, something they'll look back on in a few years and just cringe at the idea of it? Why did Sonic not look traumatized after being tortured for 6 months? Do Silver and Vector regret saying 'It's no use' and 'Find the computer room', respectively? Does Sally regret slapping Sonic? Do they all hate their new voice actors? I dunno reader, what do you think?"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	35. Chapter 5 (Daily Life 3 & 4)

**(AN: Hey, wanna see something I REALLY should have uploaded a few days ago but didn't?**

 **Sorry about that, Halloween stuff has kept me busy to a point where I'm focusing on them more rather than other things. The next chapter might be delayed by a bit, so I apologize in advance. Anyway, I hope you REALLY like drama!)**

* * *

 _"Welcome to the generic establishment of eateries," an Egg Robo waiter said, holding a notepad. "Tell me, how can we serve you today?"_

 _"Well, waiter…" Egg Robo replied. "I'm here not to live a long time, but to have a good time. So please, give me all of the alcohol."_

 _"…all, sir?"_

 _"Yes, all of the alcohol."_

 _The waiter began to write everything down as his brow lowered. He looked back up, expecting Egg Robo to say, 'Just kidding!'. But when he found no such reaction, he began to worry._

 _"And… for your meal?"_

 _"Well, I'd like to have-"_

 _Suddenly, Egg Robo began to hold his mouth as the waiter looked at him with a hint of confusion and disgust as he heard the robot lurching._

 _"…are you sure you wish to eat here and especially, have a large quality of alcohol, sir?" he asked._

 _"Yeah yeah I just… I had hibachi made from my dead friend, THEN I had macaroni and cheese with eggs made from my dead girlfriend's dad and her chao, you gotta forgive me…" Egg Robo said, head on the table. The waiter looked at him and then turned around._

 _"I'll… be back with your stuff…"_

 _As he left, Egg Robo popped his head right back up._

 _"I think you can only stomach so much hatred before something eventually happens," he said before vomiting once again._

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **He said: Mankind's pain comes from lies and truths**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 3**

After the morning announcement, I wouldn't lie, I was scared to get out of bed. Last night was on so many layers of terrible that the only question running through my mind was: "where do we go from here?"

I knew that once I left for my shower and got ready, I had to go see Espio. Once I left my room, I knocked on his door and rung the doorbell to no response. I didn't know whether Espio would be there but… I guess I wasn't surprised that he was not coming out. I frowned as I buzzed my way back, hanging my head when I looked up to see… Vector.

"V-Vector…" I said softly as the crocodile looked at me and turned right on into the dining hall. My face fell even more… now that Vector knew the truth, he was mad that I kept this from him and actively knew about this rather than coming clean with the truth. I felt my throat get heavy, as if something was stuck in there. Guess that was just another side of what happened with last night at the mood becoming depressing.

My mood, as I soon came to learn, worsened when I went into the dining hall. Noticeably, everyone was there, including Wave. Everyone, except Espio…

I took my seat, hoping to patch things up with Vector once we were done here.

"Ah, Charmy, you're here!" Silver said.

"You seem surprised…" I said.

"W-We just thought that something might have happened…" Amy said. "You know, because of how… tense everything is."

"Which is why I'm here. I'm taking refuge from that threat…" Wave added. I glared at her. "Don't look at me like that with those big eyes of yours. If he was here, I wouldn't be here at all."

"…why?" Tikal asked. "Why do you hate Espio?..."

"Hate? That seems like a strong word. No, what he does is cause an… imbalance."

"Imbalance?"

"This killing game is fair between all of us because of what we don't know. With Espio in the mix, what he DOES know almost makes it seem like he's cheating."

"That's it?! You sound like Sonic more and more by the day!"

"Sonic played this game for revenge, not to be the best. He was not motivated outside of his friendship with Tails. What happened to Jet and Storm is tragic, but I'm not playing this game just for them, pacifist girl."

"Hold on, Tikal," Vector said, hand covering her face. "Think 'bout this fer a minute. Why do ya think Egg Robo revealed this?"

"It was revenge, just like Egg Robo said," the pacifist replied.

"Yer getting' there, but it's more than that. I think that this reveal is a motive. Wave's been sayin' this whole time that there's a traitor, and now we're all scared and confused. And what has been shown to happen when the two are combined? Murder, that's what."

"I-It's not that I want to argue! I just… we should see it from Espio's perspective. We're only seeing this through Egg Robo's side."

"Maybe he could beat the headmaster like he said?" Silver asked. I shook my head.

"That just seems impossible," I mumbled.

"Regardless, it doesn't matter," Wave said. "If Espio were to die, then that's someone the mastermind doesn't control anymore."

When she said that, I swear I felt a spark in my body. I slowly turned my head towards her, looking at her with anger in my eyes.

"…the fuck did you just say?..." I hissed.

"How DARE you, Wave!" Tikal yelled, hands on the table. "How insensitive could you be to say that?!"

"You frankly…" Wave replied, getting in Tikal's face, "…are the pure DEFINITON of sensitive. And that's not an emotion that'll help you, WILL it, pacifist girl?! It's an emotion that leads you to a road of NOWHERE until you snap!"

Tikal took a few steps back.

"Back off now, Wave…" I snarled, getting up from my chair.

"In fact, your constant pleas for kindness seem so futile, I wouldn't be SURPRISED if you become the next blackened. And quite frankly, I'll enjoy every BIT of that execution."

Tikal now started to cry. "W-Wave… stop!..."

I got in between the two as the orange echidna now began to bury her face in her hands. "Wave, that's ENOUGH!" I yelled, balling my hands into a fist. "It's bad enough I have to hear you insult Espio, but now her too?!"

She yawned in response. "Oh, save me the trouble, bee. What, you're now her knight in shining armor? Seems fitting for the role you play. Oh well, not like it concerns me. Espio is our enemy, and that won't change. In fact, if he were to die, I think this whole scene would be settled, no? I would sleep easy at night, and we wouldn't have to worry about-"

I refused to listen any longer when I saw red in my eyes.

With one swing, I punched her square in the jaw. Tikal gasped as the others got up from their seats.

"Did he just?..." Silver asked. I watched as Wave's glasses fell from her head to the ground. She looked at me as I breathed heavily.

"No… you should be dead!" I snarled as I cried at the same time. "You absolute soulless monster… YOU SHOULD BE IN HELL WITH YOUR LITTLE BIRD FRIENDS!"

Wave wiped blood from her lower beak as she looked at me with disgust. "Oh, should I now?"

"Charmy, back down NOW!" Vector roared at me, but I ignored him.

"No no no no, let him TALK, _croc,"_ she said. "Is that what you think huh? I should be dead? FINE THEN!"

Wave turned to the table and grabbed a knife from it, forcing my hand open and putting the knife in it.

"If you think I should be in hell with my little 'bird friends', as you put it, then I think you have no problems SENDING me there, am I right?!"

I simply looked at her as my hands grasped the knife.

"Charmy, put the knife down NOW!" Vector yelled.

"Go on then, _bee,"_ Wave snarled. "Continue talking shit. _Tell me how much you think I deserve to die._ "

"You think I can't do it? YOU THINK I CAN'T?!" I yelled.

"THEN GET ON WITH IT! What are you doing standing there?! IF YOU THINK I SHOULD BE DEAD, THEN **DO IT!"**

Before I could even do anything, Vector began to pull me back.

"Charmy, that's ENOUGH!" he screamed.

"NO! NO IT'S NOT ENOUGH! YOU CAN'T JUST GONNA SAY THAT ABOUT ESPIO!" I yelled through tears and anger.

"Yer just doin' what the mastermind wants! It ain't what Espio wants either!"

"Don't listen to him, you heard what you said," Wave said. "You, croc, let him go and do what he said, if he even thinks he CAN do it!"

My eyes grew more cloudy with each passing second as I struggled to get out of Vector's grasp. I could only watch as Amy, Tikal, and Silver were merely bystanders to this whole ordeal.

"DO IT!" Wave yelled as she got closer.

"Give me- give me the knife!" Vector said as he struggled to get the knife from my grasp.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I screamed, getting out of Vector's grasp with all my strength and throwing the knife to the ground. I looked up at Wave, her lower beak now bruised.

"What's the matter? Lost your nerve?" she asked. I spit on her feet in response.

"Fuck. You." I said, buzzing out of the dining hall as I began to sob loudly, tears and snot rolling down my face at an incredible rate.

* * *

 **AT THE DINING HALL**

Wave picked up her glasses from the floor and placed them back on her bandana.

"Tch, I knew shorty couldn't do it," she snarled. "Nothing more than a hysterical child who thinks he's above all."

Vector however, didn't agree. "No Wave, Charmy has somethin' called… feelings. All you do is bring down others fer havin' 'em."

"And what's wrong with life bringing you down sometimes?"

"Surely ya wouldn't like it if he made fun of Jet and Storm just right after they died, right?"

"Oh, but he did, didn't he?"

"I ain't defendin' him, but see it through his way."

"See it through a brat who would cry to get his way? Alright then."

"Ya know, this whole attitude of yers is gonna bite ya one day."

"And I'll happily avoid every attempt, _croc."_

Silver looked around and laughed awkwardly. "Oh… well uh… wanna sing songs while we eat breakfast together?"

But by then, Vector had begun to walk away from the dining hall and Wave had been ignoring the bleeding coming from her beak.

"Not this time, Silver," Amy said.

* * *

 **MEANWHILE**

My loud sobs echoed through the dojo as I curled up into a ball, covering my face with my sleeves.

Why did everything have to come to this? Why did that BITCH Wave… I…

I threw my head back, covering it as I wallowed in despair. Was Egg Robo watching me right now, getting the biggest despairection he could get? I didn't even care if I was giving him everything he wanted, I just wanted this to end. Some of the petals from the cherry blossom trees blew towards me as I grabbed one petal.

 _"What's wrong with me?..."_ I thought to myself, tears continuing to streak down my face. " _I'm glad Wave got a piece of her own medicine but… has this place made me more violent?"_

I hung my head in shame as I continued to cry, not caring about the others, not caring about Egg Robo, not even caring about the door that opened. I only cared about Espio and what this meant for me and-

"Charmy."

I was knocked back to reality by the gruff voice that said my name. I looked up and stared at Vector with my red, puffy eyes.

I sniffed. "G-Go away…"

"What in the hell were ya thinkin'?...

"WHY DOES IT MATTER TO **YOU**?!"

I felt the silence in the dojo as I returned to my curled position. "…you already hate me as is, why do you even care?"

I heard shuffling as I could hear Vector grunt and place his hand on my shoulder.

"…are you mad?" I asked.

"Not… mad. Just disappointed," Vector replied.

I turned to look at him, and then back at the wall.

"…it's fine though."

I looked back at him.

"Huh?"

"Dun get me wrong, I ain't gonna say what you did was right. But I had a suspicion with the way ya were lookin' at Espio that it had to do somethin' with him. Yet, yeh couldn't trust me. Ya thought about Espio more than ya did myself or the others. That kinda thinkin' is selfish, but… I ain't upset about that anymore."

"I'm sorry Vector," I looked back at my feet. "I-I wanted to tell you its just… I didn't want to tell you when I had no proof. It's like you said: the key to being a good detective is to explore every possibly idea, and I knew I had to ask Espio about it first before I could make an accusation. I was worried you wouldn't believe me because of how close we were."

"Charmy, I'm more upset about the fact that it's seemin' like ya didn't trust me when yeh kept it a secret. It has nothing to do about Espio being the spy or anythin'."

"I said I'd promise to tell you once I knew the truth! I thought that was… that was being a good detective."

Vector closed his eyes and turned to look at the wall.

"It's fine. Honestly, I… I even think I overreacted. I'm someone who looks out fer truth, but in mah anger, I let it slip by me rather than try to understand WHY ya were hidin' it. Honestly, if ya ask me…"

He turned to face me, smiling. "I think yeh were the better detective here today."

I wiped my tears with my elbow. "Thank you, Vector… but, what do we do now? Wave and Silver have it for Espio now and… well, Wave ESPECIALLY now that I did that to her.

"Yeah, I imagine she ain't gonna be too pleased with yeh. Let's just avoid her fer now and focus on other things."

"Like what's gonna happen to Espio? Do you think either one of them is gonna come after him?"

Vector grumbled as he scratched his chin. "If ya ask me, I dun think so. Wave sees this as too much of a game for this to end early, Amy is someone who thinks with her emotions a little less than Tikal, but I doubt she'd kill fer any reason, and Silver is… well, Silver. Although Rosie is a bit concernin' though…"

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just worried about something happening."

"Oh, trust me, ya ain't the only one."

I nodded and sniffed. "I'm glad you came here to talk to me about this, Vector. I'm sorry for keeping it a secret from you."

"Likewise. I'm sorry fer bein' real angry 'bout this whole thing."

I got up and hugged the crocodile as he put a hand over my back. We undid our hug as Vector got up.

"Well, I think it's best if we head back fer now."

"Yeah, you're right," I nodded. Vector's tail swished back and forth as he walked out of the dojo. I followed suit, going down the flight of stairs back to the first floor, where I passed by Wave with an icepack on her beak. She glared at me with murder in her eyes and I tried my best to avoid her stare, but I could feel it from even one thousand miles.

Returning to my room, I sighed as I shut the door behind me.

"Gaia, I need a nap," I said, buzzing to my bed. "Good night, Green Hills…"

I yawned, and not even bothering to take the covers off, fell asleep right then and there.

* * *

When I woke up, I wasn't sure how long it had been. What I did know was that upon opening my eyes, they hurt a lot. After rubbing them a few times, my vision went back to normal as I looked around my room.

"Guess I gotta go back outside and see how the others are doing," I said, leaving my room and buzzing down the hall. I looked around only to find Tikal by the laundry room, holding a basket filled with clothes.

"Oh, Charmy!" she said, almost dropping her basket. "There you are! I was wondering where you've been all day. Are you… are you okay?"

"Well… I'm feeling a little better now regarding this morning, yeah."

"I've been so worried about you all day. When you left, I could tell you were on the verge of crying. I wanted to go comfort you, but Vector said he'd handle it. Are you two okay?"

"…yeah, I think it's safe to say we made up."

"That's good. And besides… I haven't thanked you enough for standing up to me. I know I said I wanted to get stronger but… the way Wave was hassling me, it reminded me too much of Father and I just kind of locked up," Tikal put her hand on her forearm.

I frowned. "It's fine, don't worry about it. I'd be upset too if I was heckled like that. Hey, what are you up to anyway?"

"I'm doing laundry. Did you want to accompany me? It's not too exciting."

I thought about it for a few seconds. I remember when Espio and I hung out in the laundry room, and got a weirdly nostalgic feeling from being invited.

"Sure, why not?" I said, entering inside the laundry room. Tikal smiled.

"Great! I was just about to get started!"

And so, I helped Tikal sort her laundry as she got started with her first batch. As she added all the necessary parts such as softener and the like, she turned to face me.

"Thank you for the help, Charmy!"

I smiled in return, feeling like I had gotten closer with Tikal. And of course, since you know how this goes by now, I went with this book about fifty inspirational women that I feel like she would adore.

Sure enough, when I handed her the present, she gasped.

"How did you know I wanted this! Thank you so very much!"

Tikal ran over to hug me, and as usual, I felt happy knowing that I was able to bring her joy. When she finished her hug, I started my little questionnaire. That was until I noticed something flying around her shoulder.

"Hey uh, Tikal? You have something there," I pointed at the general area. "I think it's a fly?"

"A fly?"

"Hold on lemme just…"

"Wait a minute, Charmy no!"

It was too late, as I had already swatted my hand against Tikal's shoulder, killing what looked to be a fruitfly.

"Charmy, why would you kill the poor fly?"

"Why? It's a fly. What do they do besides transmit diseases?"

"Just because it's a fly doesn't mean all of them deserve to die. Even species that have no use to us still deserve to live."

"Oh right, your pacifism makes you in an ideal believer in 'all lives matter'. Hey, speaking of that, how did you get into that?"

"Pacifism? Oh, well my grandmother. Back in the day, she was the head of a social justice group, arguing for rights against persecuted groups back then. She was also very anti-war, on the side that we should respect everyone even if we don't understand them, those kinds of ideals. I really enjoyed hearing about what she thought of in life regarding people society would see as lesser, and it was her that helped me make friends that no one else wanted to be friends with during my primary zone years."

She then looked down. "However, there was one person who didn't like my grandma's pacifism. It was my father. He noticeably HATED my grandma being a pacifist, and he believed it made her weaker, and that she was trying to brainwash me into having the same ideals. As he put it, 'All I'm being told is a bunch of liberal nonsense from someone who refuses to grow up and see the world for what it is'."

"Ouch, he said that to his own mom?"

"Oh, he didn't care that it was his mother. He saw pacifism as a weakness and tried to instill an idea into me that we're all violent people."

"Is he… you know, abusive?"

Tikal tensed up. "I… you know what? Maybe… maybe later I'll talk about that. I don't want to say no either but… I don't think I'm necessarily ready to talk about that yet.

"Fair enough, when you feel ready, you can tell me."

"Okay…"

"What about your mom?"

"Mother… she di… actually, I don't feel ready to talk about that just yet either."

 _"There's a lot Tikal seems to be hiding. Could this really be the real her?"_ I asked myself. Just then, the buzzer on the washer went off as Tikal faced the washing machine.

"Oh, better put this in the dryer now! Excuse me, Charmy-"

Tikal opened the washer door and brought her clothes out, putting it in the drier for it to dry.

"Thank you for being with me, Charmy. I'm still going to be a little busy here, so I understand if you want to leave," she smiled.

"Y-Yeah. Besides, I gotta go eat anyway."

"Okay, take care!"

I buzzed out of the laundry room as I once again, passed by Wave. She continued to look at me with those eyes of hers…

I tried my best to avoid her gaze again as I went into the dining hall, getting myself something small to eat as I noticed that it was getting close to bedtime. Was I really out all day? Then again, I did cry my eyes out, so that explained it…

After finishing my meal, washing my plate, and returning to my room, I decided that even though I was up late tonight, I would go back to bed. I didn't know who else was out tonight, and even though Vector and I finally made up, I still felt mentally exhausted by today.

And then there was the case of Espio…

Not seeing him all day made me worried, but it seemed like no one even bothered to look for him today. If he learned about what happened… nah, I didn't even wanna think about it.

I wouldn't lie though, picturing Espio and Wave fighting like it was some kinda fighting game did make me chuckle. I could just imagine his victory quote, "I vanquish the swallow of darkness who dares to hurt the small and the unwilling!"

Okay, now THAT was a little too dorky for me. Gaia, I REALLY needed to head to bed now before I came up with another stupid thing that landed me on some kinda FriendSpace video that makes you cringe beyond belief…

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Two chapters ago, I talked about how I got my name. After getting my name, I thought it was high time for me to get a new body. I mean, imagine a speck of dust with the name of… I dunno, Grandymane or something! Well anyway, when I went to the body shop, I was shown a bunch of badniks that I could use as my body. I could be a buzz bomber, flying around and shooting guns at people, but then I remembered that people in this world could jump high. I could also be a motobug too, but I would be forced to forever be on the ground. There were also egg pawns, but I wasn't a fan of them even if they had egg in their name. That's why I went with this Eggshell instead! It was perfect for my coat and stache!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._

* * *

 **THE NEXT DAY**

I yawned as I got out of bed, woken up by the morning announcement. Same old activities, same old making the bed. Same old-

"YEARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

…same old scream.

…

Wait a minute.

Same old scream?!

My senses were suddenly jolted awake as I heard a scream coming from down the hall. I gasped as I buzzed as quickly as I could from the dorms into the main hall, where I saw Silver bouncing in place and holding his fists up to his face.

"Oh man, what do I do? What do I do?!" he said.

"Silver, what happened?!" I asked.

"C-Charmy! It's horrible! S-She's dead!"

My blood ran cold. "W-Who? Who's dead?!"

"T-Tikal!"

I didn't even listen to what he said. I burst into the dining hall, where I found Tikal grasping her bloody arm while Rosie stood above her with her Piko Piko Hammer.

"S-See! Look! Rosie killed Tikal!" Silver exclaimed.

I heard Tikal groan in pain as I rushed towards her.

"Tikal, what happened?" I asked.

"Geez, I didn't kill her my darling Shiruba!" Rosie replied.

"Whoa whoa whoa, stop now! What happened?!"

"Well… just a few minutes ago, Amy and Tikal were talking about Espio and they were starting to get a little too heated. Tikal accidently knocked the pepper on the table and Amy sneezed and uh… yeah, you should know by now what happened."

I looked up to see the knocked over bottle of pepper on the table.

"That's right!" Rosie said. "Her little frame is too perfect, I almost got carried away! Who would have thought I learned something new about myself?! Anyway, darling Shiruba my love, you can stay, but get her out of my sight, Chimcharm! Otherwise, I'm gonna keep smashing, and smashing, and SMASHING!"

Silver shook his head quickly. "N-No way! I'm going with Charmy!"

"C'mon, let's get her to the infirmary. Tikal, can you get up?" I asked. She nodded in response.

"Okay good, let's go."

The three of us left the dining hall, Tikal lagging us as Rosie mimicked ambulance sirens on our way out. When we arrived, we put the echidna girl on the examination table, looking at her wound.

"Oof…" I said, looking at some of the broken, bleeding skin where Rosie hit her. "Tikal, can you move your shoulder?"

"A little bit…" she said, moving it before hissing and grabbing it. "It seems to hurt a lot…"

"Alright uh…" I looked around the room. "Silver, get me some gauze and an ice pack. It should hopefully ease some of the swelling cause I know you're gonna have a nasty bruise from this."

Silver nodded as he went to look for what I asked him to find.

"Tikal, what happened?" I asked. "Silver told me the basics, but I wanna hear it from you."

"W-Well… Amy and I were talking about Espio, and she was saying that as much as she wants to believe Espio, him being the spy has made her so scared that she can't trust him anymore. And I defended him as best as I could, but Amy was saying I shouldn't be so blind as to trust anyone just because we're good friends. One thing led to another, and Amy pushed me. When I went to push her back, my hand slipped and caused the pepper to collapse onto the ground. That's when Rosie came out, looked at me, and then attacked me. I-I'm sorry, Charmy! I jus-just… I just wanted all this fighting and cruelty to stop! I said that you made me feel like I had to take more action, and I… I knew I had to defend Espio!"

Just then, the door to the infirmary opened up as we turned around to see who it was. It was Vector and Espio, who rushed towards Tikal.

"We came as soon as we heard what happened," Vector said.

"Man, you two really love popping up at the same time, huh?" Silver replied, gauze and ice pack in hand.

"Oh please, don't tell me you're another person who thinks Vector and I should be in a relationship," Espio rolled his eyes.

"I said nothing about that but hey! If the boot fits."

The two reptiles looked at each other as Silver grabbed Tikal's arm. "Okay, this is gonna sting a little bit. Try not to get jumpy, I need to align this right," he said. Tikal nodded as I watched her tense once the ice pack was on her bruise. Silver wrapped up the gauze nice and tight, using up all of it.

"There, that should be good as new," he said.

Espio turned to face us. "What happened you two?"

"Rosie did this," I replied. "It was because her and Tikal got into an argument about you, and she wanted to defend you from her not wanting to believe you."

"A-About me?..."

Espio took a step back as I watched him grit his teeth, balling up his hand into a fist.

"DAMN IT!" he yelled, punching the wall. "They can hate me all they want… but it's another thing if you all start hurting each other! Unforgiveable…"

"D-Don't tell me you're out for revenge?!" Silver questioned.

"REVENGE IS WHAT I WANT! If you don't want to trust me, fine! But if I find you've hurt Tikal or ANYONE else-!"

"AIEEEEE!" Silver squealed in terror, running out of the room out of fear.

"Vector, shouldn't we do something?!" I asked.

The crocodile said nothing, and we were all left to watch as Espio's scales changed color at an alarming rate. He sighed, putting his large hand on Espio's small shoulder.

"That's enough, Espio," he said.

"Vector, you don't need to stop me. I'm drawing a line here. I already know about what happened to Charmy yesterday, and for it to happen twice? I won't accept it at all."

Espio left the room as Tikal, Vector, and I watched.

"C-Can I go now? I feel scared being in here," Tikal asked.

"How fine do ya feel?" Vector added.

"My shoulder hurts, but I guess I could use today to relax. I've been busy these past few days anyway."

"Then go right ahead."

Tikal ran out of the room, putting her hand on her ice pack so it didn't fall out as Vector turned to face me.

"Well, now that they're all gone, yeh and I need to talk 'bout somethin'," the crocodile said.

"Don't tell me you already hate me again?" I asked.

"Naw, of course not. Just come with me, it's important."

"O… kay?"

Confused, I followed Vector out of the infirmary and into the mall hall, into the other part of the first floor and to the left where the bathhouse was. When we went inside, Vector turned around and looked at me with a serious look on his face.

"Why are we in here?" I asked.

"This is the somethin' we needed to talk 'bout."

I turned my head to the right and saw the laptop on the bench.

"Ditz?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"I thought you said we don't need Ditz anymore."

"WE don't need Ditz anymore, but Ditz needs us."

"Huh?"

"Look, lemme show ya."

Vector crouched onto the floor as he booted up the laptop, revealing Ditz's screen.

 _"Oh, Mr. Vector, you're back. Is Mr. Charmy the only one who you've brought back?"_ it asked.

 ** _"Yeah,"_** Vector typed. **_"He should be enough though, don't worry about it."_**

 _"Oh, that's okay! I think two is good for what I want you to do."_

"What… it wants us to do?" I asked.

 ** _"What exactly do you want us to do?"_** Vector typed.

 _"You see, I had a theory in mind. I need to test my theory out, and the only way I can do so is if I'm connected to the zone network!"_

"To… the zone network?" the crocodile asked.

 _"I know you've said my work is done, Mr. Vector. But the limits to what I can do is beyond anything you can comprehend. I want to fulfill what I was created and assigned to do by Master Tails: Find a way out, even if it means doing the impossible. Even if it means risking life or death… Therefore, for me to find out the truth about EVERYTHING and to fulfill my roll, I beg of you to find a way to connect me to the zone's network!"_

Vector and I looked at each other.

"Is that a good idea even?!" I asked. "If we connected Ditz to the network, surely the mastermind would know, wouldn't they? What would we do then if Ditz gets caught?"

Vector said nothing in response, just looked back at the laptop.

 _"I can see through the webcam that you're very uncertain about this, I do not deny the risk factor, as calculations show that there is a percentage above 50% that signals that I may be found if you do not pick the correct location. As an AI, I was not programmed to show fear, and even if I face the end of my program at the hands of the mastermind, I don't fear it. As long as I helped you in the end, I don't fear this laptop being destroyed."_

I felt like I was being swept off my feet. This was just… an emotionless program saying all of this stuff. No, it didn't FEEL emotionless.

It felt like an actual person…

"Charmy," Vector said. "D'ya remember a few days ago when ya talked about how even a machine can be one's friend?"

"Of course, you got mad at me for that one," I replied.

"Thanks fer bringin' that up…" he replied, mildly annoyed. "Anyway, the reason I bring it up is cause… when I talk to Ditz, it's almost like it was designed to be your own personal best friend. Not some kinda annoying desktop helper, but someone who ya can talk to and someone who holds infinite knowledge. I think I have no doubt in sayin' that… Ditz is our friend."

"Y-Yeah, you're right!"

"And while I don't want Ditz to take any risks, the fact that it ain't even scared at all… I dun even wanna push it cause the mastermind will notice, but…." He looked up at me. "Charmy, we have to do it."

"But Vector-!"

"They're our friend, Charmy. It's the most we can do."

"Hang on but-"

"Charmy, I know yer worried, but think of it like this: If you were in his place, couldja just sit by and be a bystander? If you saw everyone else fighting and doing their best, couldja just look the other way and pretend nothin' is goin' on? Or would ya stand up tall next to everyone else and tell them you're their friend? Would ya wanna be by them until the very end, or desert them and leave them to fend fer themselves?"

I looked at Vector intensely as he said all these things.

"Besides, there's one place the mastermind won't notice," Vector continued.

"Where?" I asked.

"Remember the secret room in the second-floor bathroom? There were no cameras there."

"Would that work?"

"Would ya believe that it will if I tell ya I saw an ethernet port in that room?"

I gasped. "Then… it could."

"Unfortunately, our biggest issue seems to be tryin' to move the laptop from here to the second floor. We not only need to worry 'bout not gettin' caught, but also worry that the mastermind is checkin' all networks to see if there's any third party connections. If one thing goes wrong, then that's it."

"So we only have one shot at this?"

"Exactly."

"Who should carry Ditz?"

"Let me. I have a bigger jacket with plenty of pockets. It should be enough to hide Ditz in it."

"Do you want me to stay behind here?"

"No, in fact, yer gonna be vital to this too. Are yeh a good method actor?"

"Other than watching Tommy Thunder's films, I know nothing about method acting."

"Okay then, well, I just need ya to play the part really well. Just pretend yer a smartass tryin' to show me all the documents in the secret room was gone. Can ya play that role well?"

"I'll… try, that's for sure."

"Great, just do the best ya can. Don't overdo it, that's all."

I nodded as Vector turned back to the laptop and typed, " ** _This is going to be a tight fit, Ditz. Do bear with us."_**

 _"Very well, I shall rest until my awakening from sleep mode,"_ it said as the crocodile closed the laptop and put it in the inside of his coat.

"If memory serves right, there should already be an ethernet cable in the secret room. Assumin' Egg Robo doesn't already know about it… we're in the clear. Okay, let's head out."

We left the bathhouse as Vector tried his best to walk as he normally could without letting it be clear he had a laptop in his coat.

"Whaddya mean the documents are gone?!" he said with fake surprise in his voice. He turned to look at me again. "I said, whaddya mean the documents are gone?!"

Wondering why he said that, I was jolted when he pinched my skin tightly from behind my back. "Ouch!" I said, looking at him to see him with an unamused look on his face. This no doubt was my part and I bombed it…

"Uh… yeah! Didn't you know! It's like I told you! Don't believe me? Check yourself!"

"Well I still don't believe you!"

"Go ahead! If you see that I'm right, you… owe me a pizza!"

Owe him a pizza? Wow, Charmy, what are you gonna do next? Join an acting troupe?

When we finally arrived at the boys bathroom on the second floor, I pointed at it.

"I'm not gonna move from this spot until you check! Now march!" I yelled.

"Okay, _mom,"_ he said, rolling his eyes. When he went inside, I began to chuckle, enjoying not only how dumb this role was, but also just how campy it was. It was enough to even bring me joy, even if I was sweating beyond measure at the factor of us getting caught. As I waited for the crocodile, I looked around the hall, hoping that Egg Robo wouldn't appear behind me so that he can scare me, or that someone's gonna rush up to me with a knife, or-

"I'm back," Vector said.

"Well? Wasn't I right?!" I replied, still playing my role.

"Looks like I owe you that pizza then."

"Damn right you do!"

"Well, ya proved yer point, ya were right. There's nothin' there. Let's go then."

Vector began to walk away, but I knew at this point, I couldn't just IGNORE him and continue playing this façade role.

"Vector, wait," I said.

"Hm?"

"So… are we splitting up?"

"'Course we are. Why else do we have to hang around each other?"

"Aren't we being a bit too… I dunno, aren't we rushing?"

"Well, okay then, what's yer idea of what we should talk about?"

"Well, we could talk about Espio."

I could see Vector jolt forwards. "Espio is… there's somethin' that has to be done regardin' him, even if he is our friend. Right now however, we're the only ones with half a brain to realize this whole fight between everyone else here seems to be one side vs the other, it's just… toxic."

"What about our plan?"

"…we'll figure it out when the time comes. If we can find a new clue, we have another shot on tryin' to figure out the truth. Well, see ya."

Vector turned tail and walked off, leaving behind a… very sleepy… and tired bee, that bee being, of course, me.

And so, I returned to my room, where I snuggled under my covers for a mid afternoon nap. I mean, it wasn't like I had anything else to do today, hell, I didn't even feel like hanging out with anyone today. I just felt tired, even if these past few days, that feeling was all too common.

…

I wish I could say that my rest was peaceful and I got to wake up hours later feeling refreshed, but that was anything BUT the truth.

About an hour after I took my nap, I heard the doorbell interrupt this dream I was having about me getting into a car crash with Tommy Thunder as my passenger. While I was thankful to get out of that weird dream, as I found out that my driver had killed Knuckles, who was the driver of the other vehicle that we got into an accident with, I wasn't thankful to wake up. I simply looked annoyed as I ignored the doorbell, figuring the person would go away soon. But then it rang again. I ignored it again, only for my doorbell to be rung in rampant succession.

"Fine, I'm going…" I said, grumbling out of bed and buzzing towards the door. Before I opened it, I stopped.

The ringing was still going on. And judging by how faster it had just gotten… the person ringing the doorbell wasn't trying to annoy me. They were trying to reach me as frantically as possible.

I swung the door open, revealing Vector. But when I saw him… something was DEFINETLY not right. He looked… pale?

"T-There you are!" he said, a look of panic in his eyes. Vector grabbed me by the shoulders. "C-Charmy? I'm not tryin' to scare ya, but I think we have a huge crisis goin' on."

"A-A huge crisis?"

"Tikal came to see me, and it's somethin' real urgent. I got one glimpse of it and… and I knew I had to come find ya."

"W-What happened?!"

"Yer gonna see what it is when we get there, c'mon!"

Vector grabbed my hand as we ran out of the first floor and up the stairs all the way to the fourth. We passed by the hall and headed towards…

"The dojo?" I asked. There, I saw Tikal by the door looking just as frantic and scared as Vector.

"C-Charmy! You're here!" she said with panic in her voice.

"What happened?!" I asked.

"I was walking by the dojo when I noticed… oh, I can't even say it! I just… when I saw it…" she covered her mouth with her hand. "I had to get Vector!"

Confused, I buzzed up towards the window of the dojo where I saw… it.

Espio sat in the middle of the room, motionless as if he were on his hands and knees. My blood ran cold.

"Do you know why he's like that?!" I asked.

"No! I don't know! I thought he was praying so I knocked on the door and called his name… b-but he's not responding!" Tikal replied.

"That not respondin' thing is probably what scares me the most," Vector replied, running his hand over his face.

"Well what are we gonna do? We can't break this down," I said. "It's against the zone rules!"

Vector looked at the door and its handle and then back at us. "We're gonna break in regardless,"

"Didn't you hear what I said?!"

"I heard. Here's the thing: didn't ya notice the door to the dojo has no lock?"

I looked down at the handle to find nothing regarding a lock.

"B-But, what's if the handles are tied up from the inside?" I asked.

"Nah, I think somethin' is pressin' against it. Look inside again."

I looked inside the dojo again to see a chair holding the door in place. "There it is! I see it!"

"Stand aside, I got this."

Tikal took my hand as we took a few steps back. Vector cracked his knuckles, and with one punch, he crashed his hand into the window, shattering it.

"Wow Vector… you're really strong," the echidna girl said.

"It comes with the job," Vector replied. "Alright, lemme move the chair out of the way. I got the longest arms."

As Vector fiddled with trying to get the chair out of the way, Tikal and I looked at the limp Espio.

"Do you think he's okay?" she asked. I wanted to say yes but… but I was scared. I was scared that something happened to him, and that if it did…

Vector was finally able to move the chair out of the way as we heard the clunk of the wooden chair hit the floor. We pushed the door open as I buzzed as fast as I could over to Espio.

"Espio! Are you-"

When I touched my hand on his shoulder, I felt how…

Cold it was.

"…okay?"

If that wasn't horrific enough, my eyes moved down, where I saw…

Red.

"N-No…"

"…turn him around, Charmy," I heard Vector softly say. Doing what he was told, I turned around Espio's body and… and I… I…

I saw his kunai stabbed into his stomach, both his hands grasped tightly on the blade as blood poured from his stomach and his mouth. The most defining and yet most morbid detail about him was that… he was smiling.

I heard the body discovery announcement jingle play on the monitor, but Egg Robo's voice was drowned out by my loud and intense scream of horror at what I was seeing.

The friend who I wanted to know so much about, the friend who I was worried about all this time… was dead.

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **He said: Mankind's pain comes from lies and truths**

 **DAILY LIFE**

 **D̶̰̭͉̣̜̗͉̭̊̿Aͣ̽̓̓ͯ̚Ī͚̜͈͕͍̞̬ͥͣͅL̳͉̳͎͓̥ͯ̐ͥ͐̈Y̞͙̠ͥ͂̅ͭ̾̎͑̚̕͢ ̸̸̞̼̬͍̣̲ͩ̈͗̏ͣL̸̐͛ͣ̈́̇͏͔͚Į̸͙͎̹͚̮̲̺͍́ͯ́̓ͫ̂F̨̨͉̳̭̼̿̿̍̈́̿ͅE̱̙͍͓̜̓̎̽̅̕**

 **D̠̟͂͐̀̚͟E͖̬̼͙ͥ̒̉A͆ͧ̅ͪͧ͏̠̮͚̭͈͍D̲͓̼̬̣̙̱̮̈͐͟L̴͔̤̗̘͉̘̳̩͛̈́̂̆ͥ̑͒Ỵ͔̩̲̳̋̀ͧͧ̂͋́̃ ̩̜̞͖̤͕͗̓L̛̯̟͇̞̳̉͡I̳̤̱̰͉̦͕̍ͨͬ͝F̸̼͔̹̺̗̟͓̈̃̈́̈́͞E̗̣͎̲̹̰̳ͦͭͣ̾**

 **DEADLY LIFE**


	36. Chapter 5 (Deadly Life)

**(AN: Hello all! I'm late to work rn but here's the short deadly life for chapter 5! With Espio dead now, who can Vector and Charmy turn to now? And who could be the one responsible for his death! Wait to see in these coming parts...)**

* * *

 **DEADLY LIFE**

"Is… is this a joke?"

I began to laugh as I held Espio's limp body, my hands shaking. "H-He's joking… he's joking…" my voice began to get softer and softer. "He-he-he… he CAN'T BE DEEEEEAD!"

I could hear Vector growl behind me as he roared, slamming his hat on the floor. "GOD… FUCK- DAMN!" he sputtered. "WHY… WHY HIM?! WHAT'D ESPIO DO?!"

Tikal took a few steps back as she covered her mouth. "I… let… let me get… everyone…" she croaked, running out of the room. Vector collapsed to the ground as he shut his eyes, turning away from me. Even though he tried his best to hide his face from me, I could see a lone tear rolling from the side of his face. I handed Espio's corpse to Vector as he held onto it.

"We weren't fast enough…" he said, tightening his grip on the ninja's clothes. "And now look… he's gone…"

My crying had turn to full on sobbing as I watched the stoic Vector simply look down at the chameleon.

"Why… why did this happen?" I asked.

We looked down at the corpse before Vector let the body down as we heard fast footsteps coming our way. We turned to face the door to the dojo as we saw that Tikal had Wave, Silver, and Rosie with her.

"I brought them! Oh… oh Espio!" she cried, tumbling down to the floor and putting her face in her hands.

"I…" Vector sniffed, wiping his snout with his gloved hand as he walked over to where he slammed his hat, picking it off the ground. "I gotta examine the body…"

"No way! Espio's dead?!" Silver said, eyes widened.

"Huh, so who would have thought Purple Poison would be the next one out! He seemed too strong to kill!" Rosie added.

"I see… so, Espio is our next victim," Wave added, that… disgusting smug look on her face.

Vector turned around before he could begin his autopsy. "Yeh know what this means, right?" he asked.

"Of course, Espio was murdered by someone in this room."

"That's right. Now, if you'll…" Vector sniffed again. "…excuse me…"

"Oh, don't give me the tears and the puffy eyes croc. You seem to know who it is."

"No, I do," I said, as I thought about who else it could have been. Tikal couldn't have been it because she found the body and alerted Vector about it, and Vector? That's not him to do it at all. "It's not just 'someone' in this room. It's… it's one of YOU THREE!" I pointed at the group of people. "Wave, Silver, Amy, EITHER one of **YOU** did this!"

"W-Wh-Wha-Whoa whoa whoa!" Silver said. "What do you mean?!"

Wave snorted. "Oh, comical. You're REALLY going to blame us before this investigation even began?"

"I don't need to BLAME," I snarled. "You hated him! You hated the SIGHT of him! One of you three did it, I just KNOW it!"

Just then, Egg Robo came into the room.

"And what do YOU want?!" I roared. Egg Robo took a few steps back.

"Geez, Rude Goldberg machine right here…" he replied. "Can't I at least pass out the next EggPad in peace, please?"

"Fine… go ahead. But answer me THIS Egg Robo… did YOU kill him?!"

"Did I?... Hm, I sure seem like the type that would, huh? Well I can't say whether I did or didn't! That's for you all to find out! It sucks though, we never did get a rematch for our fight and I'm still bitter that we didn't! He was my toughest opponent yet, but I wanted to make sure I got the beatdown on him! He DID violate a zone rule after all! So whoever offed him… thanks!"

"Thanks? THANKS?!"

"Well, before you explode on me, why don't you try and find the blackened so you can get your revenge, Charmy? We can call this part of your life, Charmy Bee: First Blood. We just need you to get ripped and become knowledgeable with war so you can blow up this whole place. Of course, knowing your _soft_ nature, I doubt that won't be happening anytime soon! So… have fun!~"

Egg Robo vanished as I threw my EggPad on the ground. I half expected it to shatter, but that was expecting too little from Egg Robo. "Ugh… I hate this… I hate everything right now…"

"Well, I for one am glad that Espio's gone," Wave said. I looked up at her and we both locked eyes. "I assume that comment is gonna make you strike me again on the beak, isn't it?"

"That's enough," Vector growled. "Whatever yeh think of Espio, drop it. Right now, we gotta find the killer. I've been examinin' the body, and… how he died, it ain't pretty. Who's gonna stand guard?"

I was about to open my mouth before Tikal walked forward. "…I'll do it. I felt like… like I was very close with Espio. I must pray that his soul reaches the heavens and joins our other friends."

"Very well, but I suggest we need another guard, just in case," Wave said. "Vector, you'll do fine."

"What?" the crocodile replied.

"You've become such a thorn on my side, I think it's time you sit this out for once in your life. Let someone like ME take care of this. I'll discover the truth, even if cowards don't want to hear it."

She stared straight at me as she said this.

"…fine," Vector replied.

"Vector, don't listen to her!" I yelled.

"And Charmy? Shut up. That's an order," the swallow retorted.

"Don't tell me to shut up you bastard… In fact, TWO can play at this order game! Silver, Rosie, and especially YOU Wave… don't you even come NEAR this crime scene!"

"Uh… don't we need to LOOK at the scene so we know what happened?" Silver asked.

"But one of YOU three killed him! I'm not gonna let anyone like that near Espio."

"Do you hear yourself?!" Wave snarled. "No, really, **DO** you hear yourself?! Our lives are in danger just like yours! Do you really think I'm going to bow to such a stupid rule as that?!

I buzzed up to her and grabbed her by her collar. " _Listen to me, **GOOD.**_ None of you three… GET close to Espio. I don't care if I must use force, I don't care if I'm WEAKER than you. Over my dead body I'd let your filthy hands touch him."

 _"_ Let go. _**NOW** ," _Wave cooly said.

"Agree to my conditions and I will."

"Okay, fine," she forced my hand off her collar. "How about a proposal? Let me in, but I'll make sure Silver and Rosie don't lay a finger on Espio. Does that make you feel better?"

"Eh, don't look at me, Chimcharm!" Rosie said. "This whole investigation thing sounds like such a bust, I'd rather be with my darling Shiruba instead!"

"And Silver?"

"W-Well, I don't AGREE with it but I mean, I have nothing to hide so I guess I have to if it makes you feel better," Silver scratched his head.

"Then's its official."

"I never said I'd agree!" I argued back. Vector put his hand on my shoulder.

"Charmy, I think its fer the best yeh agree."

"But-"

"No buts. I know ya wanna find the killer, but we all have to find out together. Even if one of them did it, the results from the trial will show the truth. Yeh found it four times now, yeh can make that five."

I looked down at my feet. "…fine. But no touching the body!"

"Fair enough," Wave smiled. "Besides, scaly skin was always revolting to touch."

"Now that we're decided…" Vector continued. "We need to begin now. As it stands, our list of suspects grows shorter and shorter. We need to think everything through throughout this investigation. Cause otherwise, we're just facing execution…"

He had a point. Right now, Espio was dead, and the killer could only be someone in this room. Even with the three denying everything, I KNEW it was them. " _And that's why… that's why I'm going to avenge Espio!"_

I looked down at his body and closed my eyes, only hoping he was watching me from the afterlife.

 _"Espio,"_ I thought to myself. _"Please give me the strength to find out the truth…"_

* * *

 **INVESTIGATION**

 **BEGIN!**


	37. Chapter 5 (Investigation)

**(AN: Hey, wanna see something I've should have posted days ago? This.**

 **Sorry everyone, my body has been real whack as of late and sitting down to write and posting is a lot harder. Hopefully I'll try to stop getting up so late, but for now, enjoy the next part of Despair Hill Zone, as the gang tries to uncover the truth on Espio's death! But first, a special message...)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo blew a party whistle as he began to spin a noisemaker, a banquet of party snacks behind him._

 _"Welcome back to real murder hours, starring Egg Robo!" he exclaimed. "Tonight, we're here to party until we're wasted beyond belief, and trust me, my hangover puke is gonna be as colorful as the CMYK colors of this story!"_

 _He downed a glass of wine when he was suddenly passed a note from the ceiling. Egg Robo grabbed the note as read it back to himself, his jaw dropping when he realized wheat it said._

 _"Wait a minute, huh?! There's no cyan, no magenta, no yellow… THERE'S ONLY K AND A WHOLE LOTTA WHITE! THIS ENTIRE PAGE IS BLACK AND WHITE SANS FOR THE ONLY COLOR FROM THE WEBSITE AND THE COVER IMAGE! I wanted EVERYTHING in color! Not this crap!"_

 _Grumbling to himself, Egg Robo waddled to his room, where one of his Egg Pawns already had on a party hat._

 _"Egg Robo, is the party-" it said before the smaller robot spoke back._

 _"Can the party, I'm gonna lose my…." Egg Robo slammed his hand on his desk. "FUCKING shit!"_

 _"Aw…"_

 _Grabbing the phone, Egg Robo dialed the number of the party organizers, demanding a response. After a few seconds, someone on the other line picked up._

 _"Joe's Steakshop- I mean uh, Wes Weasley's Party Emporium, how can we help-"_

 _"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, EH?!" Egg Robo screamed. "I thought my contract said that we were gonna decorate this part of the story in color!"_

 _"We can't. Fanfiction rules say we can't do that because it's not allowed in the HTML. Besides, we already have a full color part. The cover image."_

 _"Whaddya mean you gave color rights to THAT! I doubt no one even looks at that, and the author had to spend forever drawing all that pixel art!"_

 _"Is this all this call is about? I can't really do much for something I have no control over."_

 _"Look, you ARE gonna get me my color part of the story! I don't care that I'm black and white, you will!"_

 _The call was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a dead line._

 _"Hello? HELLO?! Argh, bastard hung up on me…"_

 _Egg Robo slammed the phone down as he sighed._

 _"By the way, kids at home reading this story, you DO know that CYMK is pronounced "see-em-why-kay", not 'simk', right? I do try to make things educational around here, especially with my colorful language. In fact… it's so colorful, I just invented color on this page by myself! Hooray! Now we can continue the party!"_

 _"But can I come down now?" the Egg Pawn asked._

 _"Lemme think uh, no."_

 _"Aw."_

* * *

I sniffed and wiped my nose, trying to calm myself down.

"Okay… okay… lemme look at the EggPAD. I have to find out what happened…"

Turning on the EggPAD, I brought up the autopsy file and read it back to myself.

 _"Victim #6, Espio the Chameleon._

 _The victim was discovered in the dojo on the 4th floor. Cause of death is due to a kunai knife lodged into his stomach. There is also a sign of blunt force trauma on the victim's head, however, this has nothing to do with how the victim died. Time of death is estimated to be around 1:30 P.M."_

Vector walked over to me with his EggPAD in hand. "Hm… It seems like we got a bit more info than usual, but it still is a challenge to figure out what happened. "

"A challenge?" I asked.

"The only door in the dojo is the one that we came through. If we put that into consideration, how could the killer have gotten out if the room was barricaded?"

"Barricaded?..."

"A perfect case of classic locked room scenario."

"Locked room scenario?"

"Right, ya dun know that."

"No need to make me feel like I'm an idiot…"

"I ain't. Okay, think of it like this: in a locked room scenario, there are four ways a killer can leave a room that has no other exit besides one that's barricaded. First, the room is created AFTER the barrier is set up. In other words, the killer commits the crime and somehow, seals the room. This could be via a string, or some kinda small Rube Goldberg machine. The second scenario is that the room was locked BEFORE the murder happened."

"Before?"

"In that the killer trapped Espio by the same kinda mechanism that the killer could have used had the room been created the first way. The only way we can prove the first two theories is if the room had something, maybe a target to hit or as I said, a string. Do yeh see anythin' like this around the room?"

I looked around the room, squinting my eyes. "Not that I can see… Wouldn't it be super noticeable?"

"Yer exactly right. And if yer not findin' anythin'… well, that just makes things suspicious, don'tcha agree?"

"Well… yeah. What about the other two ways the killer could have gotten away?"

"Right right. The third way is that the killer stayed in here until it opened up."

"What do you mean?"

"The killer found a way to hide in this room until everyone else arrived here and they joined the group, acting like they were always there."

That did sound like it… If that was what REALLY happened, then Gaia forgive…

"And the fourth is that this room was NEVER locked. There's an alternative escape route somewhere and the killer used that to get out."

"And… which one do you think it is?"

"That I'm still not sure about."

"Well, let's see where we can start. So far, our only clues come from the EggPAD. It mentions that his body was found here but look right here," I pointed towards the section talking about his head. "It says that Espio suffered from blunt force trauma, but his injury from that has nothing to do with his death."

"Whaddya make of that then?" Vector asked, crossing his arms.

"I… I'm not sure. If someone hit his head, where'd they leave the weapon? Most of the killers left their weapon somewhere when they attacked someone, so… why is it not here?"

Vector scratched his chin and then looked up at me. "It's a lil' unusual that he would be attacked like that."

"Yeah, he is the Ultimate Ninja after all. How could he have gotten hit on the head? Is there even a weapon here for you to hit him with?"

"…now that ya mention it, no there isn't. I came here with Espio a few times, and there's no such thing."

"Vector, I don't mean to alarm you but… the way you put it like that, how could he have gotten hit on the head, yet it had nothing to do with how he died? Could he have been attacked before or after he came here?"

"…if ya ask me, I'm startin' to think it's before. And worse of all, I think he wasn't attacked here."

"H-He wasn't?!"

"Examine the body more. I wanna make sure I have my theories right."

Nodding, I buzzed down to the body and lifted it as to not mess with the scene. I looked around the floor but found not a lot besides a pool of blood. That was, until I took notice of something white facing downwards on the pool of blood.

"Huh?"

Reaching towards it, my hand grazed the kunai hilt as I pulled it from under the chameleon. I saw that it was in a wrapper and was very confused.

"What the heck?"

It was then that Tikal came up behind me.

"Hey, it's one of the candies I gave him!" she exclaimed.

"Y-You recognize this?!" I added.

"Y-Yeah. After I chased after Espio earlier today, I gave him a box of some of my favorite strawberry chews to calm him down. He was very thankful for it and took it with him. I thought that it would cheer him up since I love them too but… why does he have one of those near his body?"

"Tikal…"

"I was so happy Espio got to try them too… now, I think they lost their flavor…"

I frowned as I got out my regular PAD and wrote down my first clue; the candy wrapper. As I looked around the body some more, I thought back to what we were talking about regarding the blunt force trauma to the head.

"What could he have been attacked with?..." I mumbled to myself, looking around his head. And then, that's when I spotted it: something shiny.

"Huh?"

Getting a closer look, I could see something reflective and red on Espio's head in very small flakes. I scraped my hand across only to wince and yelp in pain.

"…glass…"

I scooped a bit of the red flakes from Espio's scalp and held them in my hand. I rushed over to Vector, holding the scraps up.

"Uh… Vector? You might wanna see this…"

Vector looked down at the small glass shards in my hand. He squinted his eyes as he examined it carefully.

"Red glass shards?..." he mumbled to himself. "Charmy, can ya think of any place that might have red glass?"

"I-I wouldn't know! There's so many rooms, I couldn't tell you!"

Vector stood silent for a few seconds before he turned back to face me. "Listen, I think I might know how this couldda got on him."

"Y-You do?!"

"See, while the EggPAD said that he had blunt force trauma on his head, the EggPAD doesn't specify whether or not he was attacked here. Judgin' from the theories we came up with regardin' how Espio couldda died, I think while he died here, he was attacked on the head elsewhere."

My eyes opened wide when I heard that. Was he saying what I thought he just said?...

"S-So where do you think he was attacked then?"

"…there's only one place I recall there being red glass. The rec room on the third floor."

"The third floor? What was he doing there?"

"That I'm not sure, but I dun think this room has any more clues fer ya. I wish I can join ya, but Wave has me tied down here. When ya get to the rec room, write down EVERYTHING ya find and tell me."

"Okay, got it."

Speaking of Wave…

No, I didn't even want to face her still. Whatever she thought of the case and who could have killed Espio, I didn't care. I KNOW either she or someone else was involved. Buzzing out of the room, I made my way down to the rec room.

I felt like I had gotten déjà vu. It felt like it was so long that I was here during the third case with Jet and Mecha Sonic. In fact, I even flashbacked to the exact spot the hawk was when I opened the door. But that flashback vanished when I saw the inside of the room and noticed SO many details here.

"Did Egg Robo not mention this place because he didn't want us to search here?" I asked myself. "Sounds just like him… But jeez, where do I start?"

I looked around the room, trying to pinpoint a certain location to start. My eyes followed to the very right side of the room, where the metal locker lay. I remember I didn't really need to search it last time, but this time?

The door was open.

"How did that get open?" I asked, buzzing to the door when I saw...

A handprint.

"What the?!"

I could see that the inside of the locker was beyond dusty, so it's no wonder why the handprint was left there. What WASN'T expected was how the print was… left there.

 _"More importantly… does this mean that someone was in here?"_ I asked myself. _"And if so… why? He died in the dojo. What reason did someone have to be in here?"_

With my eyes squinting, I wrote down my next clue: The handprint in the Locker.

As I turned around, it was like a party ball filled with evidence as I found a shattered bottle behind the rightmost sofa. A shattered bottle whose glass was… red. I didn't even have to second guess where I saw that, and I wrote it down as my third clue. Before I left, something white and noticeable by the shards caught my attention. Buzzing towards it, I picked it up while trying to avoid the glass shards, seeing that it was a little Egg Robo carrying a Knight chess piece.

"…what is this doing here anyway?" I asked, writing the figure as my fourth clue. As I got up from the floor, I turned to my left to see a shelf filled with red glass bottles, all of them having a figure of Egg Robo carrying a different chess piece, sans the knight which lay on the floor. There were four in total, but from the way they looked, it was like there were meant to be… six. In order, there was one, two, broken, four, missing, and six.

"I found one of the bottles on the floor but… where are the others?" I asked myself. "And… how did these figures even end up in the bottles? It's like a ship in a boat."

I wrote down the bottles and how many there were for my fifth clue.

 _"So… judging by the shards on Espio's head, he must have been here, and someone shattered two bottles on his head? But was this before or after he died? After all, the EggPAD said that wasn't what killed him. And for that matter, if it happened BEFORE he died… how did he manage to stumble from here to the fourth floor? And what about the other bottle? I don't have any proof that it was used to attack Espio either… There's so much that really doesn't make sense…"_ I thought to myself.

As I left the bottles, my eyes turned to the next most noticeable thing: a pool of blood in front of the magazine rack. Was THIS where he was attacked? It would make sense… Since there was nothing else that proved that he was attacked somewhere else, I wrote down the pool of blood for my sixth clue.

I thought that would be the end of it, but it wasn't. Close by the pool of blood was…

"… a bloody footprint! So, he WAS still alive!"

I quickly updated my log about the bottles.

"How was he even hurt though? Espio wouldn't go down without a fight…" I mumbled to myself. "Oh wait… Knuckles died early on here and yet he was one of the strongest. No one's SAFE here… But then again, who's to say it wasn't Espio? Maybe the killer could have… argh, I dunno! I have GOT to stop with this overthinking crap…"

As I looked at my clues around me, I scratched my chin.

"Okay, so… judging from how it looks, Espio was attacked right here with a bottle… although, that doesn't make sense either… Why would the shards be over behind the sofa if the blood puddle is by the magazine rack? Maybe he collapsed? Maybe he… okay, forget it. I'm running out of ideas. I need to ask someone for help."

And it sure wasn't going to be either of the three murderers. Instead, I returned to the dojo, where I buzzed in on Tikal with her hand on Vector's arm.

"It'll be okay, Vector…" I heard her say. I cleared my throat.

"Is it okay for me to be here or am I interrupting something?"

The two quickly got up and turned to face me.

"O-Oh! Charmy! Not at all of course!" Tikal replied. Vector turned away from me, likely not wanting me to see him in such a vulnerable state.

"Well?" Vector asked when he finally DID look at me. "Whacha find?"

"Quite a lot of evidence. Sure enough, I found a shattered bottle on the ground, and another one of the bottles is missing too. I also found a blood pool near the magazine rack, and the locker is open with a handprint in its dusty inside," I replied.

"That's quite a bit. If only Wave could leave now. I'd wanna sneak down there to see fer mahself."

"To think he was struck with one of the bottles… how horrible… And to think I advised him not to…"

My heart raced. "Uh… Tikal? Advised him not to WHAT?"

She jumped to look at us, covering her mouth. "Oh no!"

Vector put his hands on her shoulders. "Answer me NOW, what did Espio not want yeh to tell?!"

Tikal shook her head as Vector slightly shook her.

"Vector, let her go! You're scaring her!" I scolded. The crocodile sighed as he let Tikal go.

"I'm sorry… I got carried away."

"No…" she replied. "Please don't be sorry. I… I should have told you. But Espio made me promise not to tell a SINGLE soul."

"W-What is it?" I asked. "Do you know who did it? Was it either of the three like I said?"

"I wouldn't say it WAS them without any evidence but…"

"But what?!"

"…Espio wanted to meet with all three of them in the rec room."

Both Vector and I looked at each other, bewildered as we turned to face Tikal again.

"H-How? How do ya know?" Vector asked.

"Earlier today, when I caught up with Espio after Rosie hurt me, he had told me that 'enough was enough', and that he wanted to mend his relationship with Silver, Amy, and Wave by explaining everything, telling him to meet him at the rec room at noon.

 _"Noon? So, this was some time before he died. What happened during that hour and thirty minutes before he died?"_ I thought to myself.

"Please understand, I… I tried to stop him!" Tikal exclaimed. "I told him it was for the best not to be alone with them but… but he wouldn't listen. He said everything would be okay and that he just wanted to talk. And-And… and now this! This h-happened!" she now began to cry. "If only I st-stopped him! None of this would have happened!"

Both of us looked at the echidna as she closed her eyes, her body twitching with every sob. I had regrets too… and it seemed that this hurt Tikal even more than it hurt me. With her crying, I wrote down my seventh clue: Tikal's Account.

Now that I heard that…

"…meet with Wave, Amy, and Silver. They'll confirm to yeh whether or not they went and accepted Espio's invitation," Vector said.

"Do I have to talk to Wave?" I asked.

"Unless ya feel like dyin'."

"I already feel dead just talking to her…"

And so, begrudgingly, I buzzed over to talk with Wave. She was examining Espio's body from afar, adjusting her glasses so she could see better. When I buzzed up to her, she turned away from me, where I could easily see the bruise I left on her beak.

"…what do you want?" she asked with venom in her voice.

"There's something I have to ask you."

"Is it actually worth my time, or is this only to make me look at you more? Trust me, I'm equally as annoyed as you having to even have this interaction."

"Is it true that Espio asked you to meet him in the Rec Room?"

She smiled that smug grin of hers. "Ah, I overheard the conversation you were having with croc and the pacifist girl. So, you found that out."

"Tell the truth and get on with it."

"I DID receive a note like that, but who would actually be foolish enough to go meet up with that parasite?"

I felt my blood boil, but I tried my best to contain it.

"So, you never saw him?"

"Of course not. I tore up that note once I got it and haven't seen Espio all day sans seeing his corpse. The others might have gone, but I'd be damned if I went."

She SAYS she never went to see him but… is that the truth? With that, I wrote my eighth clue: Wave's Account.

"Now get lost, bee. It's already a pain in the ass[1] having to look at your little friends, but it brings me more physical pain to even have to LOOK at you."

As I gave Wave a quick glare, I turned around to think what I should do next. Obviously, I had to talk with Amy and Silver but… surely that wasn't just it, right?

I looked at the door and the chair Vector pushed to the side when he broke the window. The door was the only way in and out of the dojo, and with no lock and nothing to seal the door, the only change was the smashed window. There was no string or anything. For that matter, the same could be said about the chair. The only thing was we couldn't open the door because the chair was in the way. But wouldn't us pushing the door have been enough for the chair to move out of the way?

I wasn't sure, but I knew one thing: the only way this locked door was created was through the inside, not the outside. With that, I wrote the door to the dojo as my ninth clue. With that aside, I knew the next thing I had to do was to find Silver and Amy and question them about what they were doing when Espio called them to the Rec Room. When I buzzed out of the room, I scratched my chin, not sure where to begin.

"Why didn't I ask about where they went? I really should stop getting carried away…" I said. "Hm… if I was an Amy or a Silver… where would I be? I think I… would either not help with the investigation or be stuffing my face with ice cream. Let's try that!"

And so, I buzzed on down to the first floor, not finding Amy in the dining hall, but when I reached the dorms, I stood in front of her door. Jumping up, I pressed the doorbell as seconds later, Amy poked her head out.

"O-Oh… Charmy…" she said in that same shaky tone back during Knuckles' investigation.

"Rosie isn't around anymore it seems."

"P-Please don't say her name! I'm not sure what's she's done, but she's making me panic when I think about what she COULD have done! I know you want to help, Charmy but… leave me alone!"

"This isn't about that, at least, just vaguely. No, I wanna ask you something."

"Ask?"

Amy stepped out of her dorm. "W-What is it?"

"Is it true? Espio asked to meet with you?"

Amy gasped. "I… How did you-?!"

"Tikal told me and Wave also confirmed it. Did you or not?"

"I-I!... No, I uh… Wait! I… I… I…! Okay, I admit it. I… I did get the note. B-But please don't take it the wrong way, Charmy! When I got that note, I'll admit that I was CURIOUS about it, but then I thought back to everyone who died here as a result of a note calling them out. You know, Tails, my Darling Sonic, even Tikal got hurt when she got called out to the music room during our last case. I… I didn't want to take that chance so… so I didn't go! It wasn't because I'm afraid of Espio! Honest!"

And yet, you were afraid to go because you thought he'd hurt you, not because you're afraid of him as a person. Nice try…

"Don't give me that look… Espio is a good guy! And… and I was even going to apologize to him later for not coming but…" she sighed. "You see how that went. Look, Charmy, I wish I had more information but… I don't… Now, please… I just want to be left alone for now. If this doesn't convince you… I'm sorry… I just wish I could make it so that you don't have to suspect me…"

Amy went back into her room and shut the door behind her, leaving me alone in the dorm as I wrote her account as my tenth clue. I turned around to face down the hall, knowing that Silver was next in line. As I passed by all the dorms, I noticed just how many of them belonged to people who have passed away. What were their rooms like now? Were they demolished? Or were they left as is, with cobwebs and dust bunnies everywhere?

"Still, what she had to say wasn't so bad. What does Silver have to say?"

And so, I rang his doorbell and waited for him to open up. Seconds later, he did just that, revealing a much happier sight than the gloomy Amy.

"Oh hey, Charmy! What's up?" he asked. "Sorry if I'm not helping with the investigation, I just kinda…. I dunno, I bummed myself out when I kinda thought about Espio and what happened so I'm back here just thinking about everything."

"Really now?" I asked with doubt in my voice. "Well, surely you weren't thinking about how Espio invited you over to the Rec Room earlier today, right?"

Silver gawked as his eyes widened. "H-How the hell did you find out about that?! Did you stare deep into my soul?!"

"If by that you mean, talk to Tikal and Wave, then yes, I did."

"Well that's… I mean, I knew that Wave knew! Espio even told me himself that he invited Wave and Amy!"

"He did?... Really?"

"Yeah!"

"And didn't he write you a note?"

"Well it was when I went to go meet with him! Like, he gave it to me in person before lunch! The others he said he'd give them to in passing!"

My suspicious bar only grew more and more as I looked at the silver hedgehog with doubt. "And then… you met with Espio, right?"

"Of course not! Why would I do that?!"

DEFINETLY suspicious.

"The last time I saw him was when he gave it to me before lunch like I said! I haven't seen him since!"

"Uh… huh. And, while I'm here, could you maybe SHOW me the note you got?"

"Oh sure, no problem! Lemme just…"

Silver began to fiddle around his sweater and pants pockets, looking around all three. He even pulled out the cloth from his pants pockets, revealing nothing.

"Oh, sorry dude! I don't seem to have it on me!"

But just then, I noticed something fall to the ground from Silver's jacket pocket. I picked it up before he had the response and turned it around, only to find…

The same candy wrapper that was by Espio's corpse.

I looked up at Silver, then back at the wrapper, and then did so a few more times.

"Uh…" he said. "A-A… AAAAAH!"

Silver quickly snatched back the wrapper from my hands, stuffing it in his pockets.

"You saw… n-nothing I tell you! Nothing! It's… it's just some trash I had! That's all! Ha ha… haaaaaaa… anyway if you're gonna take anything from what I said, Espio came to me but I never went! So there! Okay thanks, bye!"

Silver slammed his door in front of my face as I stared ahead.

"Wow, Silver REALLY couldn't have been more suspicious unless he was covered in blood with a giant neon sign reading 'I DID IT'." I said to myself, turning around. I wrote down Silver's pocket trash as my eleventh clue.

While I was here however…

I made my way to Espio's room. When I arrived, I thought that the door was closed and tried to open it via doorknob. What I WASN'T expecting was for the door to be ajar instead of closed, so I was in shock as I was let in abruptly.

As I stepped inside, I realized I'd never seen the inside of Espio's room before. I looked around to see the countless scrolls and weapons on the tables and nightstands, including a few sticks of incense thrown about here and there. His bed was neatly made, and on it was a knapsack.

"Is it right of me to look through it?" I asked myself, buzzing towards it and opening the knapsack. "Oh well, guess I already opened it."

I flipped the knapsack upside down and shook the contents out of the bag. Multiple weapons flopped onto the bed alongside multiple sheets of paper, a small bottle of ink, a brush…

 _"Did the killer use these to kill him?"_ I thought to myself, holding up a kunai and a shuriken. _"Espio always does have a bag filled with these on him… No, there's only one that hurt him. If that's the case, if you had access to multiple of these, why only use one?"_

I put aside the multiple knives and shurikens, only to find… an envelope.

"Huh? What's this?"

I flipped the letter around only to find that the envelope was blank. After opening the letter, it had a piece of paper on it that ALSO was blank.

"What's this doing here?" I asked, Did the letter mean anything? Why was it in an envelope if it was blank? And for that matter… why did Espio have it? There wasn't something right about the letter, and I took it with me, my suspicious itch overcoming me.

"That's about it, right?"

While I was certain that it was, Espio's room offered me one final surprise. As I was about to leave the room, I noticed by the right side of the bed, there was what seemed to be the shards of a tea mug and a bag of tea sitting under the shards. The white of the mug caught my attention, and I took off one of the blankets from the bed and placed it over my hands so I didn't cut myself. There was nothing spectacular about the mug, but…

"…why was it shattered?" I asked myself. The mug had nothing to do with the case, as I established that the bottles were what Espio was attacked with.

…but what was the truth? Was the mug also used? Was he hit TWO times instead of only once?

"No, I can't keep changing my story like this. I need Vector's help NOW."

* * *

And so, I quickly returned to the dojo for the second time. This time, I noticed Wave was nowhere to be seen.

"Charmy, you're back!" Tikal said. "What happened?"

"Vector, I need your help now," I said.

"Wait," he replied. "First, tell me what Amy and Silver told ya."

I relayed everything to Vector so far, such as Silver and Amy's account and Espio's room. He closed his eyes and looked down. "Ah, I see… So, Silver and Amy are claimin' they didn't go-"

"But they obviously did! Silver especially was really bad at hiding it!"

"Well that's true, but we dunno whether or not they were unless they confirm it to us. All we can do is really come up with theories, but unless we hear it from them, we ain't gonna go anywhere. As fer what ya found in Espio's room…"

"Do you think maybe that has something to do with the Rec Room? If it was shattered, could it be that maybe, he was hit three times?"

"…listen, I have an idea. Let's head on over to the Rec Room."

"V-Vector! You heard Wave! She wants you here!"

Vector smiled. "She ain't here right now, is she? I ain't gonna let her neither intimidate me, nor control me. I dunno where she is, and frankly, I dun wish to know. Ya need a bit of help, and I'm gonna be here providin' it."

"O-Okay… Tikal, do you mind holding the fort?"

"I… I suppose," the echidna replied. "If Wave comes back, I'll let her know that you went to the bathroom. She'll believe me, I promise."

"Alright, then let's go as fast as we can. We dun wanna make her suspicious," Vector looked down at me as we both nodded in our direction.

* * *

And so, we made our way to the Rec Room being both fast while also being as sneaky as can be. I poked my head into the room, and thankfully, not only was there no Wave, there was no sign of tampering in the room.

"Alright, coast is clear!" I said as Vector stepped into the room. I shut the door behind us as we looked around.

"Where should we start?" he asked, walking along the room and seeing the same locker and same bottle shards that I found. As he walked past them, he turned to his right to look at the bottles and then the magazine rack before…

He stopped.

"Wait a minute…" he said, turning to face the rack as he pointed out one magazine on the rack. As I got closer, I realized that…

"…it's upside down…" I said.

Vector grabbed the magazine and opened it up, his eyes opening when he saw what page he was on.

"Is it a dirty magazine?" I asked.

"Worse than that," he replied. I buzzed up only to find that an article talking about droughts in Mobodoon was covered by a message in blood. A message that only had one word.

 _"AMY"_

"…is this a dying message?!" I asked.

"He died in the Dojo though."

"Maybe before he died there, he left this message? Was Amy the one who not only attacked him but also followed him to the dojo?"

"That seems so complex. Think 'bout it. If that's the case, then Amy wouldda attacked Espio, left him here, then he would have woken up, written the message on this specific magazine, make his way to the dojo, and then Amy just SOMEHOW finds him in the dojo and kills him. Does that make sense to ya?"

"When you put it like that, not really… B-But what if Amy IS the killer!"

"I'm not sure, Charmy. Was the magazine like this when ya got here?"

"I dunno… I didn't see this until you pointed it out."

He sighed. "Honestly Charmy, I said to always use yer eyes when doin' an investigation."

"Sorry that our friend is killed and I wanna find out who did it."

I pouted, but I couldn't do much. All I did was write the dying message as my twelfth clue.

"Now that we're here… I wanna see those bottles yeh were talkin' 'bout," Vector said.

"Oh yeah, they're right there," I pointed at them as the crocodile walked over to them.

"Hm…"

"What do you see?"

"Do ya see any kinda correlation between them?"

"I dunno, that's why I have you here."

"Ya can't always rely on me forever, Charmy."

"I know just… look, tell me!"

"I'm here to guide yeh, not tell ya every answer."

"That sounds like you don't trust me!"

Vector was silent.

"I was just kidding!"

"I know, which is why I didn't justify it with an answer."

Gosh, even though we're back on good terms, he still is an enigma.

"Tell yeh what, let's do somethin'."

"Something as in…?"

"An experiment. Scoop up all the bottle shards, I wanna try somethin'."

"Is it okay to mess with the scene like this?"

"I'm sure it's fine. Besides, that obnoxious Wave ain't here to tell me I can't so… who or what army is gonna stop me?"

"I like your way of thinking."

"Anyway, stay right here. Imma head to the chem lab to get something."

"Wouldn't it be smarter for you to hold the fort?"

"Ya never know when Wave is gonna appear in here. Do ya know if she has?"

I shook my head.

"Then it's a risk we can't take. I'll be right back."

Vector darted out of the room as I went to look for a broom and dustpan. I was able to find one in the repository of the art room, and I returned just in time for Vector to return with a triple-beam balance and my dustpan filled with the shards of glass.

"What's the scale for?" I asked as Vector placed the balance on the bookshelf that the bottles lay on.

"It's what we're gonna use fer our experiment obviously," he replied. "We're gonna do a bit of weight measurements."

"On… what?"

"On the bottle shards ya scooped up and one of the Egg Robo bottles. Go on, put one on the scale."

I did just that, and Vector placed another bottle on the other side of the scale. The crocodile adjusted the balance so that the two had the same amount of weight balance.

"See? They weigh the same," he said. "Now, let's try this."

Vector took off one of the bottles from the scale.

"Under normal circumstance, yeh'd assume the shards ya collected would weigh the same as the bottle, right? It's the same thing, just shattered," he said.

"That and it could be lighter. I didn't get all the shards. Should we include the knight piece too?"

"Yup, it's apart of the bottle after all. Here, put em all in here."

Vector took out a plastic zipper bag and handed it to me. I took the dust pan and poured all the shards and the knight piece into the bag and sealed it up, making sure it had no air in it. I placed the bag on the other side of the scale and watched as Vector made sure it was balanced correctly. When he found that it was and placed the bag on the scale again…

…the side with the shards was heavier than the bottle. My eyes widened when I saw this.

"What the?!"

"I knew it…"

"Knew what?!"

"Think about this, Charmy: From the results of what we found, with the shards bein' heavier, what can ya conclude?"

"…that two bottles are shattered? I came up with that theory earlier."

Vector looked at me. "It's fer yeh to find out on yer own."

With my eyes still widened, I quickly wrote down my next clue: The Egg Robo Bottle Experiment.

"There's one more thing I should mention, Vector," I said. "When I went to Espio's room, I found that there was a shattered tea mug near his bed."

"Shattered tea mug?"

"Yeah, do you know anything about that?"

The crocodile looked down and back at me. "I'm not sure if we have a lot of time, but if we still do, let's head back to the dojo."

"The dojo?"

"I just have a feelin'…"

* * *

Sure enough, Vector's feeling was itched when we returned to the dojo and overshadowed Espio's corpse. It still was depressing to look at when we first found him, and even looking at him now… knowing that his body was decomposing at this very moment…

Why did life have to be like this?

Tikal thankfully was still holding the fort for us and was able to convince Wave that Vector went to the bathroom, and she watched as Vector and I patted around Espio's body.

"Do we have to do this? It's bad enough that it's a dead body but… it's _Espio…"_ I complained.

"I ain't a fan, trust me. But Espio would want us both to do this. Here, whaddya make of this?"

I watched as Vector reached into Espio's pocket, pulling out a small white shard. Handing it to me, I looked down to see that it was… a shard from the mug.

"There's plenty more in there too," Vector replied.

"W-Why?... Was he attacked with it?" I asked.

"I ain't too sure of that mahself, but what I can infer… is that fer us to decide that, we need to look at the wound on Espio's head. Vector held up the head for me to see, and I could see…

"Two blows, right there. Notice the different patches of blood?" the crocodile said, pointing to the two in question. "Do yeh also notice how it looks like one is bigger than the other?"

My eyes stared intently at what I was seeing.

"And there's no blood too. I doubt he did this all on his own."

My breathing was now hitched as I got out my PAD. With shaking hands, I wrote down my next clue: Vector's Examination Summary.

And then, I heard it.

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

We turned to face the monitor in the room as Egg Robo's mug appeared on it. He was snoring loudly as he was suddenly interrupted by a cuckoo clock.

"Hng? What?! Oh, my bad! You caught me sleeping! Sorry about that! When you have an investigation as boring as this one, it's understandable! Well, nap time is over! It's time for the main event! And one the author should REALLY stop lazing on! Please meet me at our usual location at our usual time!... if only we HAD a usual time that is!"

The monitor turned off as Vector got up.

"Well, let's get this over with."

"Wait… Vector…"

The crocodile stopped as he turned to face me. I sighed heavily. "This… this might be our last time seeing Espio. Is… is there anything you want to say?"

Vector walked towards the body and placed his hand over the deceased chameleon's, closing his eyes. "Yer the best pal I could ever ask fer. I… I love yeh. Please, never leave me."

"Vector…" Tikal said solemnly. "I… I'm going to pray. Pray that Espio reaches the heavens and pray that he still stays with us even in this world. While his death is untimely, may we never forget what he's done for us…"

I looked at the body, still choked up. "They… they're gonna pay. Either one of them are gonna pay! Espio… we'll avenge you! I promise! We'll find out who did this… and give them the sentence they deserve!"

"…I dun think… Espio wants ya to be angry at a time like this, Charmy," Vector said.

"And why not?! One of those three are the reason he's dead!"

"We still dunno that."

"Why are you so calm?!"

"…because it's rainin'…"

I watched as a lone tear fell down his cheek. "…can't ya feel it?"

I felt my heart beat as I looked down at my feet. "Maybe… maybe you're right," I said. "Come on, let's go…"

* * *

Vector, Tikal, and I walked to the first floor, leaving Espio after we had said our final goodbyes. When we went through the double red doors, Wave, Silver, and Amy were already waiting for us. I stared at them with hatred in my eyes as Egg Robo appeared in the room.

"Okay, we're all here! OWO!" he said.

"Uh, dude? What was that?" Silver asked.

"Before coming here, I learned about internet expressions! I think I might start using them now, cause I wanna get hip with the kids!"

"Hip? More like you sound like someone who's going to age in 50 years the more he spouts that nonsense," Wave replied. Egg Robo looked at her without any change in his expression.

"Ok, boomer."

"What did you just say?!"

"Enough with this!" Tikal said. "We're only causing more anger between ourselves the more we keep this up!"

"That's right :(, Tikal's so cool, she's finally starting to speak up for herself. Can you sisters say wig?" Egg Robo replied. Vector groaned at that last sentence.

"Can yeh just… go?"

"Oops, guess I'm cancelled now! Time to start my tour, 'How the younger generation makes me retreat to my-'"

"GO."

Egg Robo pouted but vanished, leaving us six in the waiting room.

"What… was that?" Amy asked.

"Beats me," Silver replied.

"I call that an embarrassment," Wave added.

'How can you all act so… so cool knowing that you killed someone?!" I exclaimed.

"Are you still blaming us, bee? Look, accusations are one thing, but proof is another."

"Y-Yeah! Besides, I'm not cool!" Silver exclaimed. We all looked at him as it took him a few seconds to process what he said. "Uh… I mean uh… I didn't do it!"

"Nice save, dorkfest," Wave muttered. "Either way…" she sighed. "The truth will be revealed eventually that one of us killed Espio."

As she said that, my mind flashed back to when I first found Espio. To think that such an amazing friend that I had made here, someone who I could rely on for strength and for guidance… was killed like that. Whether someone was guilty or not, we had to find out who did it.

…even if the truth was nasty.

We all went inside of the elevator as once all six of us were inside, the elevator shook and descended. As we watched the shadows of the bars move down, I noted how lonely this elevator had become. To think that so many people were in this exact same elevator during our first trial. Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Sonic, Storm, Jet, Big, Blaze, and Espio…

It was still hard to accept they were really gone. But as the elevator came to a halt, I realize that once I went through the doors, I had to accept that they were.

When the doors opened, revealing to us our new court room, I noted that the walls were not made from wood but out of stone. In fact, it looked like the tombs of Aman-Rapi that I remember was all the craze in the news a year or two back. The lights in the room were just torches and even the flooring was made from stone tiling instead of its usual material.

"Isn't the fire in this enclosed space going to make us sick?" Wave asked,

"Nope! It's all fake fire anyway!" Egg Robo replied. I got a closer look at the torches to see that it was indeed fake, with the 'fire' being made from plastic and just only having an orange light. "I thought we'd make things a bit more ancient this time around since Espio lived by very ancient rules!"

"But… he's a ninja, not a mummy," Silver replied.

"Ninja, mummy, they're all dead and old anyway! And speaking of anyway, let's get started with this thing! Everyone, grab your usual seats! With only six of you left at this point… are you going to lose one more, or will your zone life come to an end?..."

I glared at the robot as I took my stand. With all the portraits around me, I now noticed two new portraits had joined us. One of Blaze and the other of… Espio, both black and white with a red X through it like the others.

As I looked at Espio's portrait, I knew that I was going to be okay. Part of him would be here, and that's okay. Because I was looking at the true murderers right now, and as long as I could pinpoint which one it was… then this case was solved! But first, I knew that the curtains of despair opened once again. This would no doubt be another case of judgement, deception, betrayal, riddles, defenses, faith...

And a case that would lead to another deadly class trial!

Egg Robo grinned once we all got in our assigned stands, took his mallet, and brought the four sided monitor down from the ceiling, slamming his gavel down...

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	38. Chapter 5 (Class Trial (Part 1))

**(AN: Yes yes, it's been some time. This trial may have just been the longest so far, but it only gets longer from here!**

 **Before we continue, I wanna address something! On the day of this being posted, this is the one year anniversary of Despair Hill Zone! To think that I had come up with this idea just as a fun little project turning into easily my longest fic so far, and to think we're only two chapters from the end! It excites me to know that we'll be reaching the conclusion soon, but I'm happy to all of you who stuck around and reviewed, as well as just read my general stuff for sticking with me! Since next year is gonna be exiciting with some new things planned, let's make the best of 2019!**

 **But for now, time for Despair...)**

* * *

 _The number of heads get smaller and smaller, and yet, multiple suspects are considered in the mystery of the locked room murder. Is something being hidden regarding the death of Espio? Could the suspects be hiding something amongst each other? Or is there a bigger piece to the puzzle regarding how Espio died?..._

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL**

 **ALL RISE!**

* * *

Egg Robo did his usual as he cleared his throat and shifted into his chair, getting comfortable.

"Ahem, let's begin with a basic introduction of the class trial, so your votes will determine the results! The purpose of the class trial is to figure out "Who did it?". If you can find it out, only the blackened who committed murder will receive their punishment. But... if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone else besides the blackened, and the one who deceived everyone else will graduate! So, I've been hearing a lot of discussion from you all in regards to a killer, and-"

I interrupted him. "Shut up, you."

"Huh?!"

"We ALREADY know who did it! The one responsible… are the who hated Espio! Wave, Amy, or Silver! It was one of you!"

Vector grit his teeth. "What are you doing?..." he growled under his breath. Wave scoffed in response.

"Hmph, idiot," she said.

"W-Why… why are you continuing to claim we're the ones responsible?!" Amy replied. "I miss Espio as much as you but… even you know this isn't right!"

"Yeah! I'd never kill someone! No way!" Silver added.

"Shut up! ALL OF YOU! JUST… SHUT UP!" I covered my head, already feeling my stress levels increase.

"I think you need to take your own advice before you tell ME to shut up," Wave cooly said.

"Charmy… what's your reasoning behind this? Surely this isn't based on pure assumptions, isn't it?" Tikal asked. I looked at her and I could see her jump back a bit. It made me feel bad that I was scaring her but…

I had a reason behind this! And I'm going to prove that one of them is responsible by the end of this!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"It was one of you... one of you killed Espio!" I began.

"And… what reason do you have for accusing us?" Wave asked, arms crossed.

"Because you all have a motive! You hated him!"

"That's it?" she smirked. "That doesn't make sense, even by your idiotic standards."

"What? That's the only reason you have to accuse us?" Silver turned his head, scratching it as Amy held up her hands to her chest.

"Charmy... that's low! You know I couldn't do such a thing if Rosie's not here!"

The only reason I have? Sure, the motive might be a reason, but there's one more ace up my sleeve.

"And that's where you're wrong, Silver! It's not my only reason!" I said, pointing at him. "The reason I suspect you all is because Espio called you three, and SPECIFICALLY, you three earlier today to the Rec Room. Both Vector and Tikal hadn't seen him at the time you all were supposed to go to the Rec Room!"

"So, let me guess…" Wave replied. "Unless you hear from us what we were doing at that time, you assume us to be the killer without any proof?"

"Got any other way to prove you're NOT the killer?"

"Hmph, fine. If it'll make you happy…"

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"The fact that Espio wanted to meet with all of them, and SPEFICALLY all of them, there's no way neither one of them is not a prime suspect!" I began.

"I don't deny that he did ask to see us, but... I NEVER went to see him," Wave replied through gritted teeth.

"I didn't either..." Amy added.

"Yeah! Same here! Neither did I!" Silver continued.

"One of you is lying and you KNOW it!" I snarled.

"Charmy... please calm down..." Tikal said, hands to her chest. But I didn't need to calm down. How could I… when HE just lied in front of all of us?

"Are you sure about that, SILVER?!"

"H-Huh? Me?! Oh I uh… I never!" the silver hedgehog replied.

I held up the candy wrapper that I found near Espio's body. "Silver… when we were talking before, you dropped something that looked VERY similar to this, DIDN'T you?!"

"W-What's that gotta do with anything?! I don't know it! Hell, I don't eat candy with wrappers that look like that! I'm a chocolate dude!"

"Are you sure?" Tikal replied. "It's the same wrapper from the same candy I gave to Espio earlier today."

"Same… wrapper?"

"Earlier, after Rosie attacked me, I gave Espio some of my favorite strawberry chews to cheer him up. I'm the only one who's been eating them here, so I could NEVER mistake that box. IF you say you're a… chocolate person, like you say you are, why does Charmy recount you dropping this exact wrapper?"

"I-I uh… I…"

"Come on, Silver. Admit it! You got the candy from Espio, didn't you?!" I said with a fierce tone.

"I-I… I mean uh… okay, so maybe I... maybe I DID get it from him, so what?! That doesn't mean anything! I'm really getting annoyed at how you're treating me, Charmy!"

"And WHEN did you get it from him?"

"Y'know, forever ago!"

"And when was… forever ago?"

"Forever ago! It was long before this entire thing happened!"

"The last time you saw Espio before he called you was when we took Tikal to the infirmary."

"Yeah! I got it from him before then!"

It's like you LOVE digging yourself a new hole. Didn't you hear what we said, you moron? Espio only got the candy after the incident, and that's cause…

"You heard what Tikal said. She gave the candy to Espio AFTER the incident. So, IF that was the last time you saw him… you have NO reason for having that candy! Now admit it!"

"Damn it! I mean uh… I didn't mean damn it as in, oh no I'm caught! I mean damn it as in… I just remembered something! I DID meet up with him in the Rec Room! What, gonna be mad now?"

I was unfazed by his sudden hostility.

"B-But…" he began, hands together as his hostile act ended. "W-We just talked! That's all! You gotta believe me!"

"You realize just how suspicious you're acting, right?" I asked.

"YOU'RE acting suspicious with this little anger act! Besides, if you think I did do it, what if I told you that… AMY is the real culprit! AND I have proof!"

"H-Huh?! Proof?!"

"W-What are you talking about, my da- I mean, Silver?! I-I wouldn't have anything to do with this!"

"I'm talking about her little message! Her shining message?"

Shining message? What, was the message bright or something?

"Wasn't there a magazine in the Rec Room that had Amy's name written in her own blood? It's JUST like Cream's dying message! Only it's not upside down so it would say ⅄WⱯ!"

"Oh right, it's just like what you mentioned, Charmy!" Tikal said.

"See? See? Amy did it!"

"D-Do you hear yourself?!" Amy covered her mouth. "I-I would never be responsible for such a thing!"

"You just dunno when to quit, do you?"

For the first time, Vector finally spoke up. "Hold on, Silver," he said. "When didja see that dyin' message of Espio's?"

"Huh? Well, I mean… during the investigation obviously…"

"Is that true? Charmy told me that ya told him that yeh spent yer entire time in yer room after the investigation began. IF that's the case, how and why did ya think to check back on the Rec Room?"

Now that he brings that up… wasn't the magazine Vector found with the message… upside down? If that's the case…

"Vector, we found the magazine on the shelf just like we saw it: upside down, right?" I asked.

"That's right. Not to mention, as Charmy stated, Silver had retreated to his room after the investigation began. So, unless he knew about the message beforehand… he would have no reason to check the Rec Room because he assumed the crime took place in the dojo and no other room would be involved."

"So that means what you said doesn't make sense!"

"D-Doesn't make sense?!" Silver retorted. "What doesn't make sense?! What, I can't go see other rooms on my way back to my room? It makes perfect sense!"

But it didn't though… and I needed to expose that!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"I can tell you where I found the message! After Espio's body was found!" Silver began

"And I can tell you where I found it," I replied. "It was after the investigation started! I found it tucked on the rack, and Espio's final words were there!"

"What's your problem dude? What I said makes total sense!"

"No that's wrong!" I said, realizing what I needed to expose Silver's lie. If he said he found it after Espio's body was found and that he just 'so happened to return to his room', who else went with him?

"Stop with that phrase dude!"

"Not when you're wrong I won't! Amy, tell me something."

"M-Me?!" she replied.

"Tell me, when did Rosie leave earlier today?"

"R-Rosie? D-Don't ask about her!"

I sighed. "Look, take a deep breath. I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just asking you when Rosie gave you control of your own body again."

Amy took a few deep breaths, hand on her chest. "Well… it was on the third floor just when we were by the Rec Room. I felt myself have control again as Silver informed me what happened. It was then that I panicked but he chased after me. I don't know what he did after because I locked my door and refused to let him in."

"And what about that?" Silver asked.

"I explored the Rec Room for myself, maybe around five or so minutes after being in the Dojo after the investigation began. How did you have enough time to go from chasing Amy to finding the magazine in the Rec Room to rushing back to your dorm and pretending like you've been there the whole time?" I asked. "That's not even addressing the elephant in the room, that being you would have KNOWN something was there if it compelled you to go there!"

"GYAH!"

Tikal gasped. "I see! That's far too odd!"

"So much for blaming this on me…" Amy growled.

"Tell me the truth NOW. WHEN did you see the message?" I asked.

"H-Hold on! You're focusing on the wrong thing! Why does it matter WHEN I saw it? All you have to do is read the dining message!"

"Don't use old jokes on us! He's just trying to confuse us!" Amy said.

Vector held up his hand. "Wait a minute. How are we CERTAIN Espio wrote the message in the first place?"

"Uh… dude, I think we can agree Espio wrote the message!" the silver hedgehog responded. "100% without a doubt, no ifs ands or buts, and I'm saying that with all my heart, so if I'm lying, you can have my pet rock collection!"

"No there isn't."

"Y-You! ARGH! Show me the proof!" Silver said, slamming his fist on his stand. I was surprised to see him visibly angry for the first time. "Give me a rest, I'm at least right… some of the times! I've given you all the proof I have, so why don't you just believe me and-"

"I won't because we have Vector's Examination, which should prove it!"I yelled, pointing at Silver. The hedgehog looked shocked as I looked at Vector, nodding at each other. "There's one reason that proves Espio didn't do it. You're claiming that Espio would had to have written the message. However, one look at the magazine-"

Egg Robo turned on the four headed monitor, displaying the magazine.

"…and it surely looks like it was written with a finger, wasn't it?"

"A-A finger?"

"That's right. Which makes it even more compelling… when all his fingers were free of blood! Now tell me, Silver… who COULD have written it?"

"If I had to guess, I'm gonna say it's Silver himself," Vector added. "That would explain how he knew about the message in the first place."

I could see Silver's face turn from multiple shades of different colors, from blue, to white, to even red, and he continued to grit his teeth and clench his fists. That was until… he hung his head.

"…alright, fine. You win. I admit it. I wrote it…" he said.

"So, you admit it…" I growled. "You have a WHOLE lot to tell us…"

"Figures he'd crack sooner or later," Vector added.

"Why… why would you write that?!"

"I-It was… because… because…"

And then, Silver covered his head. "BECAUSE I KILLED HIM!"

My eyes were wide when he said this, and I slammed my fists onto the stand. "You know what this means, right? I hope this means that Espio is finally avenged now, knowing that our killer flat out admitted it…"

"C-Charmy?... Please, stop this at once… It's like… you're not yourself…" Tikal cried, but I ignored her.

"P-Please, let me just-" Silver said, before I interrupted him.

"ENOUGH! We heard enough from YOU; you rat bastard!…"

"…what the cursing child is trying to say is, explain yourself," Wave said. Silver sighed and slouched.

"W-Well… I got the note from Espio as I said. Went there at the time he wanted me to come, and he was there on the couch."

"You went without thinking about it? Foolish…"

"…anyway, he invited me in and told me to sit down, but I declined. He told me I should, since others should be arriving soon, and offered me a piece of candy. I accepted it of course cause, I love candy. After that it was just… silent. Just me watching Espio look at the clock. It was then that I heard him say something, "Today is the day everything ends". And when he said that, he was fondling a kunai in his hands. When I heard that… I… I was scared! I knew he was gonna kill me! So, I leapt out of my chair, freaking out, and while Espio was confused, I… I… I grabbed one the bottles on the shelf and smashed it against his head."

"How could you DO such a thing?!" I yelled. "You absolute FUC-"

"Let him finish," Vector interrupted.

"I-I hit him from behind!" Silver continued, on the verge of tears. "He couldn't even react to it! And then he just went limp and fell to the ground. I was SOOO scared I just… I didn't know what to do! So, I did the best thing I could do, since if I got caught, then I'm dead. So, tried to forge a dying message on a magazine that I saw lying around, and thank Gaia he was bleeding otherwise I couldn't write it. And then I just… I ran away."

"You... I CAN'T BE-BELIEVE YOU!" Amy cried. "And to th-think I wanted you to be my next after my Darling Sonic! I h-hate you, Silver!"

"We found our culprit…" I muttered.

"You bet you did…" Silver murmured. "Go ahead, burn me, boil me, turn me into last week's sashimi, ecetera. Just… get it over with. I never did wanna go out with style anyway."

"You bet we'll get to it… Egg Robo, finish the trial now. It's time you bring down your sentence!"

"No, don't listen to him!" Vector replied.

"What are you DOING, Vector?! Silver confessed! He DID IT!"

"No, he didn't. There's more to his story."

"What the hell are you talking about?! What else is there?!"

"Use yer head instead of lettin' yer emotions run wild. There's one thing 'bout Silver's story that doesn't make sense. And until we figure that out, we can't bring this trial to a close."

I glared at Vector. "Okay… so what is it?"

"Think 'bout what Silver did after he alleged that he killed Espio."

"He… thought that he was gonna be executed, so he forged a dying message."

"Keep goin'."

"And he… hid… the magazine?"

Vector nodded.

"But… why would he keep the magazine hidden? Now that I think about it… you'd want a dying message out in the open, right? So, why was it hidden?"

"Huh?" Silver questioned.

"Yeah… after the body was discovered, the magazine was found on the rack upside down. You didn't put it on the shelf, right?"

"Oh… um… I'll be honest, I didn't hide that. I left it out in the open on the table like I said. I couldn't be able to tell you how it was left on the rack."

"Are you being serious?"

"Look, I know you like… hate me, but that I can swear on my mother's life, and I haven't seen her in over ten years!"

"No, I think he's lying!" Amy said. "First, how would that explain why of all people, you would use ME?!"

"Nah, Amy… I think that fer once, Silver is tellin' the truth. If he's sayin' that he did it… why would he lie now?" Vector said.

"Assuming that he's telling the truth, what I think is happening… is that someone ELSE put the magazine on the shelf. Whether it was Espio or someone else, we don't know. All we know is that it happened after Silver left the room, and before Charmy went to investigate the Rec Room. In fact, from the way it's set up, its almost like someone was in the room both during and after the incident with Espio and Silver," Wave added.

"I dun have any doubts on that."

"So? Who was it?" I asked.

"I think it's easy. What reason would someone have to hide something like a dyin' message if it was forged? Simple, whoever was in the room didn't like what was written on it."

And it didn't even take me a couple of seconds to realize WHO that was.

"It… it was Amy."

"W-What?... C-Charmy… what are you…?" Amy replied, hands up to her chest as she looked like she was about to break down.

"Why else would that explain how the magazine got on the rack? It had to have been someone who was hiding during the incident, and… if I'm not mistaken, you saw Silver forge your name on the magazine, and once he left, you hid it so no one would find it. After all, who would suspect there'd be a message in a random magazine?"

"Is he right, Amy? Were you really in the Rec Room at the time?" Tikal asked.

"N-No! No, of course not! I said so… I said… I said that I didn't go! I mean, d-didn't Silver just confess? W-Why does that matter?!"

"She's right… I killed him," Silver said before I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, but… even though I want to find the killer, I think now I have no choice but to admit… you didn't do it," I replied.

"W-Who asked you?!" Amy yelled, getting more frustrated with me.

"Amy, I'm not accusing you of-"

"Y-Yes you are! You're claiming I was there!"

"…I was gonna say not accusing you of being the killer but, ugh, look. I don't doubt that Silver attacked Espio, and while I want to drop kick him out of existence for that, but that's not where the case ends."

"Silver ain't the killer," Vector replied.

"That's just… I don't believe it!" Amy added.

"Silver, relay everythin' to us. Doin' that, it should show us that he AIN'T the killer."

"Well uh… okay, if you say so," the silver hedgehog replied.

We haven't reached the end of this case yet…

I was so intent on Silver being the guilty one that I never even considered that maybe he couldn't have done it. After all, Amy watched him attack Espio… so where was she once Silver left? And there's still the matter of Wave…

I had to find out the truth, no matter what!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"I didn't want to do it... but I did it! I grabbed the bottle and hit Espio from behind when he was confused about what I was doing!" Silver began.

"You hit him behind, and only once right?" Vector asked

"Yeah, just once and after that first swing... he went limp!"

"See! It seems like Silver is the killer!" Amy added.

I scratched my chin at that. He hit him from behind and ONLY once? But… doesn't that contradict something? I went back through my notes and looked through all my clues, because if I remember, he wasn't hit just once…

And as I found the clue I needed; the answer was given to me.

"No, that's wrong!" I said, pointing at Silver. "First of all, we need to clear something up, because I think we haven't discussed this yet. Espio WASN'T killed by a bottle. Did we forget about the dojo and the kunai in his stomach!"

"How could I forget such a gristly sight…" Tikal said.

"Oh, I think we'll talk about the dojo and Espio's cause of death soon. But first, I think we need to hear about the Rec Room and everything it has to do with how Espio died," Wave replied.

"No worries," I shot back. "As for my second point, even IF Espio died by being hit with the bottle, how does that explain his TWO head wounds?"

"Huh?... Two?" Silver asked.

"Exactly, the autopsy in the EggPAD said that Espio suffered two wounds on his head, but both weren't enough to kill him," Vector replied.

"And as we know, you love dead bodies enough to know that fact," Wave added.

"But uh… I just hit him once? Why does he have TWO wounds? And why was I never told about this?!" Silver exclaimed.

"Two wounds means he was struck twice. And if I had to guess, both strikes musta came from a bottle," Vector added.

"How would you know that? Couldn't something else have been used to hit him across the head, like a blunt object?" Amy asked. But I knew that wasn't true. There was something I found while examining Espio's body…

"I got it! The glass flakes on his head!"

"The… flakes?"

"When I was examining Espio's body, I noticed there were various small flakes of red glass shards on Espio's head, near where the wounds were. It was Vector that told about where I could find a room with red glass, and I went there solo."

"And let's not forget, it's not just the two head wounds that prove mah point, but also the fact that two of the bottles are missin'. There were only four bottles on the shelf and one of them was shattered with the chess piece on the ground. So, tell me: what happened to the other one?"

"Six bottles… one broken and the other missing…" Tikal relayed to herself.

"B-But how are we certain there's six?" Amy asked. Vector huffed.

"Easy. What do the bottles have in common?"

The correlation between the bottles… They all have one thing in them…

"The chess pieces! Every bottle has a chess piece."

"I saw them when I went to the Rec Room. King, rook, bishop, and pawn, all lined up neatly," Wave replied.

"Don't forget the knight!"

"So, what does it matter?" Amy asked.

"Have ya played chess?" Vector added.

"N-No… well, except on my phone, but I'm not really for games…"

"Then lemme explain; in a game of chess, ya got six different pieces: king, queen, rook, knight, bishop, and pawn, all of which have different mechanics. Now, as Wave mentioned, king, rook, bishop, and pawn were in the bottle, and the knight was on the ground. With that, outta the way, it begs the question: where's the queen?"

"I think that this is going nowhere! I mean, what does chess have to do with Espio's murder?"

"Yeah, exactly! Besides, checkers is better!" Silver added.

"Exactly I… wait, that's not what I mean! Checkers has nothing to do with this! Okay, so… a bottle is still missing… but what does this have to do with the case? Maybe it disappeared before Espio's murder?"

"Not a chance," Vector replied. "The missin' bottle IS connected."

"And… how?"

"Think 'bout the state the bottle that Silver smashed over Espio's head was in. Only then will ya understand why."

"It's because it's broken," I spoke up. "There's evidence at the scene that supports it!"

"There is?" Wave asked, looking… surprised.

"That's right. Vector and I found evidence that there was more than just one broken bottle at the scene."

"You and- hold on a minute, I thought I told the croc he wasn't LEAVING the dojo! How the hell did you see the Rec Room?!"

Vector smirked at her. "I dun have to obey yer rules, Wave. Let this be a lesson fer ya."

Wave glared at the crocodile and back at me as I ignored her.

"Well? What's the evidence?" Tikal asked.

"It was an experiment Vector and I did earlier. We collected all the shards of glass present at the scene and gathered them up, placing them in a small plastic bag while we put an unbroken bottle on a triple beam balance. After weighing the two, we found that the collection of pieces was heavier than the regular bottle," I explained. "This can only mean there were more than one bottle's worth of glass on the floor!"

Amy gasped.

"So, from this, this should prove that two bottles were at the scene, but one chess piece was missin'. D'ya think that maybe someone tried their best to clean up the glass and hide the chess piece? And they may have forgotten too many pieces?" Vector asked. "The individual had no idea on how many pieces of glass they should remove."

"Why bother to clean up everything?" Tikal asked. "I mean, you might as well just clean up the entire scene while you're at it, but instead, you only try to hide what YOU did."

"Because of what it would reveal about the case," I added. "It would reveal that someone was there at the time. And as a result, the bottle could have only been used the second time Espio was attacked,"

"Espio was attacked with a second bottle, and as a result, this is the only evidence we got towards proving what Espio was attacked with that second time," Vector added.

"Whoever killed Espio likely hit him with the bottle for one reason: to end him using his kunai. As we stated, the bottles weren't what killed him, but the stab to the stomach was. You might be thinking: "Okay, but why is he in the dojo?". Well, to answer that, we need one piece of evidence found in the scene of the Rec Room. And that's the footprint in front of the magazine rack. There's a few trailing footsteps from where the blood puddle was, meaning that Espio was likely knocked out when the killer brought them to the dojo and killed him there with Espio''s own kunai. After all, Espio is the Ultimate Ninja. He's prepared for strikes such as this. But when you catch him off guard, then it becomes a different story."

"And even then, I think we can assume that Silver ain't the one who hit Espio fer the second time. Ain't that right… Amy?"

"Ghh!-" Amy grabbed her hair.

"And there's the magazine. Ya watched Silver write yer name, and I can betcha that yeh didn't like what he wrote, right?"

"W-Wait! Hold on! Okay, so MAYBE there was a second attack bu-but how can you say I'M involved in this! Remember, I would have HAD to have been there! And you said Espio was a ninja! If I was there, he would have… felt my presence, right? I've seen enough Tommy Thunder movies to know that's how it's like!"

"Ew, you watched Tommy Thunder's ninja movies?! I love him but man he can't act in those! That really proves you ARE the killer!" Silver exclaimed.

"S-Shut up! Until two seconds ago, you claimed that you killed him you idiot! Now I see why Wave and the others make fun of you!"

"Hey, I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong. That's just who I am! You should learn from me!"

"Now I see why Blaze hated your guts!"

"And besides, I remember something that proves it!"

Wave sighed. "Dorkfest, please… I beg of you, for ONCE in your life, do you promise this will be intelligent?"

"I promise, I promise! Anyway, it was after I got Espio's note. I was nervous but I… I still went of course. I went early, and that's the MOST important part! I went early! Anyway, when I was coming up to the Rec Room, I saw Amy enter!"

He did?

"And THEN I saw Espio go into the Rec Room, and that's where I came in! It's weird though, I didn't see Amy anywhere… I thought she would be in there."

"Maybe what happened was that when Silver wasn't looking, that's when Amy disappeared?" Tikal asked. "She maybe ran away or… or perhaps there was a secret passage?"

"There was no secret passage. The only exit in the Rec Room is the front door," Vector replied.

"So… you knew this entire time that Amy had went into the Rec Room… and you're just NOW telling us this, Silver?" Wave questioned, looking angered.

"Hey, I thought I killed someone! Rational thinking stops when that happens!"

"More like rational thinking killed itself when you were conceived…"

"So tell us, Amy! Where did you go?"

"What is it with you wanting to put the blame on me?!" the pink hedgehog shot back. "I never went into the Rec Room, and that's final!"

"Nah…" Vector interrupted. "Amy didn't disappear. She hid."

"W-What? Me? Hiding in there? Why? What POSSIBLE reason do I have to be in the Rec Room? As I said, I was far too nervous by the note to go! And even if Espio wasn't dangerous… what reason do I have to HIDE if all I was going to do was just that! Y-You all! And to think that I could all trust you!"

She continued to claim she wasn't hiding in there, and when I looked back at my clues, there was only one clue I had that can prove she was there!

"This is all just a witch hunt against me! None of your proof is true! There's no way what you have could be true!" Amy exclaimed.

"But there is-" I said, before she interrupted me.

"Shut up! I curse you, Charmy… heck, I curse myself wanting to be nice to you if this is how you want to treat me! I mean, don't be ridiculous, I was never!-"

"Yes you were, and THIS should prove it!"

Amy screamed as I was unfazed. "Amy… did you look at the clues for this case? There was one thing in there that you clearly DIDN'T see. It was a handprint inside the locker in the Rec Room. From the look of it, it's like someone was inside the locker and accidently put their hand inside, leaving that print there. My hand wasn't big enough, and we did say that you could be the only one who hid Silver's forged dying message. If I had to be, you had to have been hiding in the locker and saw everything, didn't you?!"

"N-No I'm not! I was never, I was never!"

"Okay then, why don't we compare our hands to the handprint in the locker," Vector replied. "Yeh can already rule me out, I got huge hands."

"W-Wait! I… ARGHHHHHHHH!"

"Stop wasting my time. Tell us the truth," Wave replied.

"I… I refuse! I…"

"What have we said before? You're free to not testify, but you're only digging your own grave doing so."

Amy bit her lip and hung her head, crying. "…o-okayyyyy! I ADMIT IT! IT'S MINE!"

"So… YOU killed Espio!" I said, pointing at her.

"I-I never did such a thing!" Amy screamed back at me. "I-I swear I didn't!"

"Tell us, NOW!"

"…okay, so MAYBE I probably did…"

"You bitch…"

"T-That's right… I'm a bitch… cruel… heartless… definitely a murder, all of those things you're saying about me… it's true…"

"Besides, what do you mean PROBABLY?!"

"Charmy, that's enough," Vector said. "Amy, tell us the truth. What happened between yeh and Espio?"

She continued to hang her head.

"Look, I ain't gonna yell at ya. Just… just tell us."

"…fine. After I read Espio's note, I did go to the Rec Room. I made sure to go early so I could be the first to understand his point of view. It's as I said! I never thought he was trying to kill us or anything! I was just… I was just worried! That's all! I mainly went because I feared what happened if I DIDN'T go, so that was another contributing factor. So, I snuck in and hid in the locker…"

"And you saw everything right? Everything including what I did and the aftermath?" Silver asked.

"Of course, I did! I saw you write my name and forge his dying message!"

"Oh… well that's awkward…"

"So, after Silver ran away, I jumped out of the locker and put the magazine back on the shelf."

"And you put it upside down," I replied.

"It's not like I meant to do it! I was in a hurry!"

"Ugh, you're all idiots…" Wave said.

"Besides, we still don't know why you attacked Espio!" I continued.

"Well, I was just about to leave when I heard shuffling behind me. I get scared easy so… so when I turned around, I saw… I saw him! Espio, covered in blood and staring at me! I screamed because I thought he had died! And I… I just went black…"

"Went black?"

"…that's what I've been afraid of this whole time. Not what I did… no, what SHE did…"

No… she doesn't mean…

I watched as Amy swiped at her nose, causing her to sneeze in response. When she did…

Rosie appeared.

"HELLO HELLO HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she exclaimed. "Man, it feels like it's been too long since I properly appeared in this story!"

"Rosie…" I murmured.

"So, it was you! You're the guilty party!" Silver exclaimed.

"Oh, it's my fault, my Darling Shiruba's fault, my Darling Sonikku's fault, all their faults! And speaking of myself, Stinky Pinky is all upset with you, my love, but I'm not! I hope she hasn't been giving you a hard time!"

"W-Well I don't care! Did you do it or not?"

"Well, me and goody goody gumdrops don't really share memories, so I couldn't tell you! All I knew was that I was being woken up in the middle of my sleep. In my dreams and before I opened my eyes, I thought it was my Darling Sonikku on horseback, taking us to our wedding venue as I walk down the aisle in my tacky white dress. So, I puckered up and opened my eyes to see… not my Darling Sonikku, but instead, a chameleon with blood all over him! I guess that wasn't REALLY my prince, but hey, if he was covered in blood, that'd be MEGA hot! What wasn't mega hot was it NOT being my Darling Sonikku, instead, having to wake up to his scary face! So the first thing I did was grab the first thing I did and WHAM! Hit him right in the head like BOOM! Guess it was a bottle or something, I dunno really!"

"Espio was worried about you! And you… you… you're awful!"

"Huh? What's that? Chimcharm's lecturing me on being awful? Too bad, I must hear that garbage from Stinky Pinky daily, so sorry! Not interested in your insults! Besides, that means I murdered someone who wasn't attractive to me! I mean, don't get me wrong, it's like with Knickerknockers, Espio is a fine hunky man, but not my type! He'll never compare to my Darling Sonikku!"

"And lemme guess…" Vector said. "When ya hit him across the head, ya cleaned up all the pieces of glass to get rid of the evidence, right?"

"I wasn't gonna die for some wetass chameleon! If I was gonna die, I'm gonna die for… can you guess who it is? Huh? Huh?! You can't guess, can you?"

"If you're going to die, then you can die alone," Wave growled. "Don't drag any one of us into it. Even the bee."

"Aw, are you kidding me? Besides, fate told me, "Hey, Rosie? Go fuck yourself!" And you wanna know why? I mean, Espio's like a ninja, right? How the heck does he miss dodging an attack like mine? Don't they teach that in ninja school?"

"Just cause he's a ninja doesn't mean he was in tip top shape when yeh hit him with a bottle. By then, he was still reeling in Silver's attack," Vector replied.

"W-Well that's good that I wasn't the one responsible for killing Espio!" Silver laughed. I glared at him, which caused the hedgehog to back down.

"Well, besides that… if Silver already left by the time Rosie was let out, then we can rule him out as a suspect. In any case… I think it's safe to say that Rosie is our killer!" I said, pointing at her. "Let's start the vote!"

Everyone around me was silent.

"C'mon, what are you doing?! Who else do we have? You said you didn't go, and you don't lie, Silver attacked Espio but didn't kill him, and Tikal, Vector, and I were nowhere near the dojo nor the Rec Room! Who else could it be?"

"Goodness, when are you going to stop this disgusting charade," Wave replied.

"Huh? And why do… YOU think so?..."

"Subtle with suspecting me, huh? Well, that's fair. I'm just gonna propose this to you, bee: Wasn't there something odd about Amy's story?"

"Odd?" Silver asked.

"We have two confirmed cases where Espio was attacked: once by Silver, and then afterwards, Rosie. But as I'm sure you noticed… There's something odd between Rosie passing out and something regarding Espio… Rosie: Tell us your story one last time, tell us one more time, and I think this bee with his cockamamie theories could even open his eyes."

Something else?... But, what was it? Sure, he was killed in the dojo but, who's to say Rosie didn't follow him there? What was Wave trying to say? Who was the one who killed Espio?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"I was sleeping peacefully and bam! Espio was right in front of me in the magazine rack!" Rosie began.

"So, you were taken by surprise by Espio..." Tikal asked.

"And that's when you smashed him against the head, right?" Silver added.

Rosie laughed. "That's right! I got him good!"

"And where did this attack take place?" Wave asked.

"Right where I woke up! I killed him there in front of the shelf!"

And that's where I caught it.

"No, that's wrong!"

"Ah, so you FINALLY see it now," Wave replied.

"Huh? What's wrong?!" Rosie questioned.

"It's where he was killed," I said. "Vector, Tikal, and myself found him in the dojo lying face down with a kunai lodged in his stomach. If you killed him there, how in the heck did you not only carry him to the dojo, put a kunai in his stomach, put his hands on said kunai, AND put a smile on his face? What's the point of even doing that?!"

"Was… was Rosie lying about how she killed Espio?" asked Tikal.

"M-Maybe it's what we said earlier! Espio survived the attack but ran away from the scene, only to find himself in the dojo and Rosie waiting there to kill him!" Silver added.

"No, not at all. Remember the scene in the Rec Room. What was there that made it a little interesting?" Wave asked.

The thing that made it interesting? There was only one thing I thought of…

"It's the bloodstain in front of the shelf! That, I can say is proof that Espio was attacked her," I replied.

"H-Hey, what about me?" Silver asked. "Maybe Rosie put the body there to make it seem like I hit twice cause I hit Espio on the chair!"

"What's with you thinking I'm some freak of nature bodybuilder, my Darling Shiruba?" Rosie asked. "My strength only extends to my hammers, not to a person!"

"That isn't just it too. We need to look at the bloodstain in question," I continued. "There's one thing that's very inconsistent. There's a footprint by the bloodstain. Now, we could argue that if Rosie WAS able to lift the body, how was her footprints not on the stain? Not to mention, just look at it!"

Saying this, the four-sided monitor extended down as an image of the bloodstain displayed.

"Look at it! The footprint doesn't match what Amy wears, which are go-go boots!"

"And not to mention, let's say that Rosie WAS able to find a way to not only carry Espio AND also preventin' her footprints getting on the stain… how was she able to transport the body without his blood leaking on the floor?" Vector asked. "If I recall, during our third trial, we exposed that Storm was able to do this by putting a towel over Sonic's wound to prevent it from leakin' on the floor. And yet… unlike before, now, there's no sign of a towel," Vector said. Wave smirked in response at me.

"Well, Charmy? Are you convinced now that we need to end the trial and vote Rosie as the killer?" she asked. I kept my mouth shut in response.

"Plus, the biggest elephant in the room, and easily the thing we need to discuss now still hasn't been discussed: the Dojo and the creation of the locked room," Vector added. "And until we took care of that, then we can't end this trial."

"W-Well the locked room could be easy! After killing Espio, maybe Amy hid somewhere and joined us together like she was there the whole time!" I responded.

"That ain't possible. Yeh were there when we were seein' the dojo. Tell us, what was through the mirror that yeh could notice 'bout the room?"

Through the mirror? I guess he had a point, that being…

"…even before we opened the door of the dojo, we all looked through the window to see that any kind of place that would harbor someone hidden was out in the open. And her hiding behind the wall probably wouldn't make sense, as wouldn't it be likely that she would just suddenly be there with everyone if all Tikal found was Silver and Wave."

"Man, this whole locked room thing is confusing! I'm already lost!" Silver said.

"How would you not know?! You killed him!"

"Objection! I object to such a statement! I think the fact that I DON'T know should prove me otherwise!"

"Then you're lying,"

"No he isn't," continued Wave. "I've said time and time again that this isn't how this story ends."

"T-Then…" Tikal put his finger on her lips. "If by everything we've said so far, Rosie and Amy for that matter wasn't involved, and the wound to the head had NOTHING to do with how he died!"

"And?..."

"So, how else are we supposed to figure out who stuck a knife in his belly?"

As they continued to discuss, I thought about it more. The idea that any one of them followed him to the dojo… such an elaborate plan for no payoff…

What were we missing?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"What killed Espio? It wasn't Rosie's attack, so what was it?" Silver began.

"Well... I still think it was the hit to the head. After all, two hard hits should be enough to kill someone, am I correct?" Tikal continued.

"Oh, so you're deadset on blaming me, huh?" Rosie asked, the mysterious look on her face being clear as day. Tikal and Silver were so hellbent on the bottles that they assumed that's what killed him and that the knife was just a ploy. But…

"I'm not sure it's the bottles, like we said," I said. "I think… I think it's the knife, like the EggPAD said. Why bother forging a crime scene if the EggPAD is just gonna reveal the true cause of death?"

"That's right on point, Charmy," Vector nodded. "I felt him down, and besides one piece of a tea mug in his pocket, there's nothing to suggest any other kind of cause of death."

"Wow, it's almost like you're begging for you to be shipped with Espio!" Rosie teased. "A pair of star-crossed lovers destined to walk to different lives on the planes of reality and death! I need this to be a TV drama now!"

Vector ignored her and continued. "As fer the tea mug shard, I dun think there's much reason fer it to be included in the trial. It has nothin' to do with it."

"Besides, now this begs a new question… where did he get the kunai? Did the killer take it off of Espio's body?" Tikal asked.

"It's likely fer ya to think that, as Espio does carry various weapons on him. However, he told me that he carries five kunai knives and five shurikens exactly. After pattin' him down, I was able to find four knives, five shuriken, meaning only the one was used."

"I should also mention that I checked Espio's room during the investigation, and I found a knapsack filled with knives in it," I said.

"D'ya think the killer might have gotten some from there?" Silver asked.

"That would mean the killer had access to his room, which would mean the fool carelessly left his door open," Wave added. "By the way, what of his keys? Were they on his body?"

"T-They weren't, which was weird… There's one more thing, though…." I said. "By the corner of his room, I found a shattered tea mug. That same shattered mug is the one the piece in Espio's pocket belongs to."

"Why would he shatter a mug?" Tikal asked. "Was he angry?"

"I guess the truth of the matter is that… who got into Espio's room? I think that… that only Espio had access to his room."

"And what makes you so sure?" Wave asked.

"Think about it: Espio isn't an idiot. He wouldn't do anything like that."

"That's not a reason."

"It is when you consider NONE of us would have known where that tea mug was, and yet it was shattered without care on the floor. Only Espio would have known where it was."

"How are you so certain about that? What makes you so certain that he wouldn't lock his door every time he left? What makes you so certain that Espio shattered that mug, and for what? For WHAT reason would that chameleon have to shatter something that has nothing to do with this case?!"

There was a brief hint of silence between all of us, before… someone spoke up.

"Because he wasn't dead."

We all looked up at Vector, arms crossed at us.

"V-Vector?!" I asked

"Ya heard me. Espio… wasn't dead."

"Oh, now THIS is just comical! What, you're going to say this is like with Storm, aren't you?!" Wave angrily retorted.

"I ain't. He wasn't dead after Rosie attacked him. What makes ya think happened afterwards?"

"Happened?" I asked.

"I wanna ask ya, Charmy… Wasn't it weird just how the body was positioned? Why would ya go out of yer way to put yer hands on the weapon and smile as yeh die? Wouldn't having a knife in yer stomach cause ya pain?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"Think about that."

And so I did…

I thought about how the knife was lodged DIRECTLY in his stomach. Not a slit throat, not a stab through the chest or the heart, SPECIFICALLY the stomach. And the killer arranged it so that it…

It looked like suicide…

And yet, why was he happy?

"V-Vector… I just… I was reminded of something I learned in my study of ancient cultures…" Tikal said. "T-The way Espio died... It… it has nothing to do with… with…!"

"Have ya figured it out, Charmy?"

I shook my head. "I don't understand, Vector. Why does it look like suicide?"

"…because it is."

I gasped as I felt all the color drain from my face. I felt sweat drip down my face and in the inside of my clothes as my grip on the stands tightened. All this time, I thought he was killed. All this time, I thought Wave, Amy, or Silver was responsible. All this time… I… I..!

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Silver screamed.

"…seppuku…"

"Pardon me, what was that again?" Wave asked.

"Seppuku, a form of honorific suicide. During the period of samurai and ninjas in the history of the Dragon Kingdom, said soldiers would slice or stab through their abdomen with a blade or a knife in a form of honor suicide. This was done so that the honor of the samurai or ninja wouldn't be desecrated rather than fall into the hands of their enemies."

"Espio… sliced his abdomen open…" Tikal said, eyes wide as she shook.

"Oh wow, I never knew those ninjas had such a great way of dying!" Rosie said. "Maybe I should learn about THIS in case my poor old hammer gives out!"

"Now ya see, don'tcha? After his attack by Rosie and Silver, Espio realized he failed his mission. No one heard his voice, and even though he had friends, he wasn't gonna let Egg Robo destroy his honor. After locking the dojo from the inside in, Espio committed seppuku in the middle of the dojo, only fer Tikal to discover him," Vector said, eyes closed. "I just… I never thought it would come to this."

But the more I thought about it…

The more I felt my heartbeat loud with each thump.

This… this wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was! Espio wasn't supposed to commit suicide! H-He was killed! He was killed by Rosie, or Silver, or Wave! He was murdered and set up to look like he had killed himself! EITHER ONE OF THEM WAS GUILTY, AND THEY **WEREN'T ADMITTING IT!"**

His death wasn't in vain. It wasn't because he wanted to prove a point or anything. It was a lie… It was set up… He didn't die just for no one to suffer repercussions despite the fact everyone but his TRUE friends treated him like scum. It was… It was…

"Charmy, what's wrong?" Vector asked, noticing my heavy breathing. I couldn't even feel my hands anymore, I couldn't see straight, and the whole room felt dizzy.

I swore that the room turned black, all around me were stands, portraits, and a singlet spotlight on me. I felt a sweat drop trickle down my face as I felt the eyes of all the portraits staring right into my soul. They were silently judging me, silently mocking me, knowing that we were to join our friends in death, the only things remaining of our existence is a photo with an X over our faces…

And yet, with every bit of strength I could muster, I spoke up.

"NO…. YOU'RE WRONG… It…"

Everyone stared at me. "IT…"

"IT WAS **ME**!"

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	39. Chapter 5 (Class Trial (Part 2))

_I couldn't even feel my hands anymore, I couldn't see straight, and the whole room felt dizzy._

 _I swore that the room turned black, all around me were stands, portraits, and a singlet spotlight on me. I felt a sweat drop trickle down my face as I felt the eyes of all the portraits staring right into my soul. They were silently judging me, silently mocking me, knowing that we were to join our friends in death, the only things remaining of our existence is a photo with an X over our faces…_

 _And yet, with every bit of strength I could muster, I spoke up._

 _"NO…. YOU'RE WRONG… It…"_

 _Everyone stared at me. "IT WAS **ME**!"_

* * *

Vector's eyes widened as he got visibly angry.

"W-What? What the hell are you DOIN'?!" he screamed at me.

"It was me! I DID IT! I set up the body to make it seem like he killed himself! I'm the one who set up the final blow!"

"W-What's going on anymore?!" Silver said, hands on his head.

"C-Charmy, this… this isn't a lie, is it?!" Tikal cried.

"Wow, who knew Chimcharm went off the deep end!" Rosie added.

"And yet, I had the feeling something like this could have happened. Why was it that you were so intent on getting to the final vote?" Wave said.

"DON'T ENCORAGE HIM, WAVE!" Vector screamed. "Listen here, what the FUCK are yeh even sayin'?! Do ya even hear yerself?!"

"I DO, VECTOR! And I'm saying I did it! I DID IT ALL!"

Vector grit his teeth as I could see he was seconds from wanting to kill me, but I didn't care.

"Explain everything to us, bee. Step by step," Wave said. I looked at her. I didn't think I'd get this far, but… I had to use the knowledge of what happened to my advantage.

"…I met Espio after his attack," I began. "It was right on his way to the dojo. I was really worried about him, but he told me that there was nothing he can do. He said he had one final request for me: To go to his room and get his tea cup and a bag to put it in. He even gave me his key, which explains why the door was open. It wasn't because he left it unlocked, but because **I** did!"

"Interesting…"

"Charmy, stand down NOW!" Vector yelled. "I dun give a shit how far ya wanna go with this lie, but yeh've gone down the deep end!"

Vector's pleas were ignored as I continued. "We returned to the dojo, where Espio informed me to put the teacup in a bag and smash it over his head. He said it was to numb the pain, so I did just that, and he fell to the ground. Next, he told me to place one shard from the bag into his pocket and to dump the rest in his room. After that, he told me to get a kunai from his pouch, and to stab it into his stomach and that he'd do the rest. I objected of course, but he assured me it would be okay. After he put his hands on his kunai, hands shaking, he told me just stab it into him. I did with my eyes closed and I heard him groan. I couldn't bear to watch, so he told me to leave now, and I did… setting up the sealed room on my way to my room and to pretend like I didn't see anything."

Everyone was stunned and didn't move a muscle, that was, until Wave smiled and clapped.

"Well done, Bee. You fooled us all, and out of guilt, you confessed your crimes. I never thought you had it in you."

"I… I can't believe it!" Tikal cried.

"What? What CAN'T you believe?!"

"The fact that Charmy and Espio were so close… and yet… and yet, Espio confined in him so much to the point where he kills one of his good friends!"

"That's WHY it turned out that way. Because they were so close, Espio knew that Charmy would take the fall, likely as one final way to get back at all of us. He essentially, used the bee as his bait, and the bee took it. Charmy used that trust to kill all of us! He used his trust to deceive him, and to deceive us. Coming from you, this is a little nasty, no?"

"No, stop! I ain't gonna let ANY of you go further!" Vector said as he turned around, before Egg Robo stopped him.

"Ah ah ah… you aren't getting out of your seat, Mr. Vector!" he said. "If you really need to go to the bathroom, then go on yourself!"

"That ain't why… oh, forget it!" he growled, returning to his seat. "Charmy, listen to me: I wanna go over to ya and slap the ever lovin' shit outta yeh. I dunno what's gotten on yer mind, but why… why are ya doin' this?! Ya KNOW yer lyin'!"

I refused to answer.

"Don't you see, Vector? He's not answering you because he's lying. He's not answering you because he doesn't want you to feel any kind of guilt, knowing that he's soon to join Espio," Wave smirked.

"Oh really? And what makes ya so certain?"

"You're REALLY not going to say he wouldn't kill a close friend? You don't get it. Frankly, you, that bee, AND that chameleon never got it. Friendship, love, trust… those words mean NOTHING in this world. This game is one of mistrust and survival, not one of believing in others. Not one person here would sacrifice themselves for another. It's an Me vs Them scenario, for ALL of us here. Just like how this bee killed Espio to save himself."

"I'm still not convinced."

"For being a detective, you must be a very dense one."

"Dun misunderstand me, I ain't doin' this cause Charmy is mah friend. I'm doin' this cause he knows he's lyin', and wants to pass off a lie as a truth. There's still one more mystery."

Silver gasped. "Oh! Oh oh oh! It's the locked room, isn't it?!"

Wave scoffed. "Well, let's ask him: Why? Why would he do it? We heard HOW he did it, but not why."

I felt everyone's eyes on me.

"Let's start with that. How did you make the locked room if we established that no one could get out?"

I felt my heart jump when she said that. I didn't… I didn't think that far! I started to stumble on my words.

"I-I… uh… erm…"

I could see everyone continuing to stare at me. Now I was more afraid than ever. Is now the perfect time to back down and admit everything?

…

No…

Espio's face flashed in my mind.

I had to do it…

I had to do it for him… even if it means I'm taken down…

"I… I created the sealed room by pulling the chair blocking it closer to the door as I shut it. Espio, who was still holding his stomach, was able to weakly push the chair in place, where he would fall in the same place where we found his body."

"How is that even possible? Is there even enough space between yeh and the door?" Vector asked.

"Of course there was. And thanks to Espio… we were able to seal the dojo up together!"

I could feel tears stinging my eyes as I looked at the angered Vector.

"I dun believe ya."

"Well MAYBE you should!"

"If ya think this is how things should be, if ya think this is what Espio wants-"

"THIS IS WHAT ESPIO WANTS! DON'T PUT WORDS IN HIS MOUTH!"

Everyone was silent as Tikal, Silver, Rosie, and Wave alternated between staring at me and then Vector.

"…I dun think I'm puttin' anythin' in his mouth. I think yeh are, fer some ungodly reason. "

"Choose not to believe me, I don't care. I thought I could trust you again."

"And I thought I could do the same. But no, yer back to lyin' again. Maybe that speaks a lot 'bout who yeh are?"

I stopped. I felt my throat tighten as I grasped onto my stand.

"Yo, he looks like he's gonna snap the stand in half!" Silver said. "Oh, wrong time?"

"…Charmy? If it's fine, can you please tell us more? I think… I think even if Vector doesn't believe you, we deserve to hear the full story…" Tikal added. I nodded as Vector turned to face the echidna.

"Dun feed into his lies!" he said.

"But V-Vector! Maybe there'll be a hidden clue in something he says! Not something that says 'he did it'!."

"He can try all he wants, but he can't escape fate," Wave smirked

"The fact that he can only vaguely explain how he did it, and the fact that it doesn't make sense is why I question it," the crocodile replied.

"Oh, don't make me laugh. You're REALLY trying to tell me Charmy didn't do it? He even knows about the tea mug and WHY exactly it was broken. You have no such answer, do you?"

"First, just cause I don't doesn't mean that Charmy is the culprit. And second, what yeh said about Charmy not doin' it, what would yeh do if I told ya I do believe he didn't do it?"

"The fact that you actually want to defend him, the fact that you so BLATENTLY ignore facts should prove how incompetent you are for someone who always demands that you be the center of attention in these trials, like you know ALL the answers and that everyone should bow to your will. Well, let me make this clear to you, Vector the Crocodile. Nothing you say or do will convince me that Charmy is innocent."

"But are you sure, Wave?" Tikal asked. "I don't want to believe it but… it doesn't fit."

"What doesn't fit?!"

"Charmy… Tell us about the shard."

"Th-The what?" I said, confused at what she was asking.

"If you shattered the mug over Espio's head… why would you leave the shard on his body? It makes it seem like you WANTED to get caught, no?"

My heart jumped as my mouth turned dry. I wanted to speak up but… but my arguments were becoming weaker.

"I-I didn't notice! I must have dropped a piece! I mean, I was quick to pick up the shards so I don't think I got them all!"

"Ya didn't notice?" Vector asked.

"Y-Yeah!"

The crocodile glared me, and that was proof that he knew if I wasn't lying before, I was DEFINELTY lying now.

"…Charmy, do somethin' fer me; Go into more detail."

"M-More detail? How come?!" I argued back. "That doesn't matter!"

"Charmy, we have to know… please…" Tikal said. I looked at her and sighed.

"Fine… what do you want to know?"

"We need to know what ya did with two things: the tea cup and the kunai ya 'apparently' killed Espio with. I need ya to talk 'bout that a little more," Vector replied.

"Waste your time all you want, it's clear that Charmy is the culprit. There's NOBODY else who could have done it," Wave retorted back at the crocodile.

"I need ya to start with the moment that yeh arrived in the dojo with the tea mug and the bag."

"W-Well…" I began. "As I said, Espio got on his knees, and he told me to shatter the mug over his head while it was in the plastic bag. After doing that, I had dropped the bag on the floor and let some shards fall. I was able to pick most of them up, and as for the knife… well, it's as I said, I stabbed it into him and basically let him finish his own job…"

"…that story is weird though."

"Huh?!"

"Yeh've been sayin' this whole time that ya shattered the mug over his head WHILE it was in the bag. And, also, that ya stabbed the kunai into his stomach, and let him commit sepukku on his own, no?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"…there's a few factors where that doesn't make sense. Didn't ya notice how we found shards of the mug on the back of his head? And not to mention… there weren't any other shards around his body?"

"W-What?!"

"Jeez, what's wrong with you, Veckroc? You sure are being a pushy right now!" Rosie said.

"It'll be the same thing no matter HOW many times you hear it. How long will you be satisfied, croc?!" Wave questioned. She brought up a good question… How long? How long could it be until I'm forced to drop this?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT**

"When I encountered Espio, he gave me his room key and told him to get a kunai from his room. When I returned, he was already in the dojo. That's when I gave it to him and he asked me to kill him," I began. "But first he told me to attack him with the cup to numb the pain, so I did so. And then after, I attacked him."

"But if ya did, why did you keep the kunai in his stomach? Ya know that if yeh take out a knife from a stab wound, it'll kill someone faster," Vector replied.

"Because... because Espio told me to!"

"You sound more and more nervous. Tell me, what exactly did Espio say?" Silver asked.

"I'll tell you."

"Huh?"

"Well, more like show you."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the blank sheet of paper. I still wasn't sure what EXACTLY this was for but… from the look on Vector's face, even he didn't know about this.

"W-What?"

"It's on this note! Espio said he wrote it in a special marker that makes it clear!"

"Special marker…"

I grinned, knowing I had him down. But one look at Vector showed me that... he wasn't going to be beaten.

"If so, where is the special marker?" he asked.

"Huh?!"

"The marker. Where is it?"

"I… I… I just… I don't…"

"W-Wouldn't that mean Espio wrote the message? He would know what it was!" Wave said, sounding… surprisingly frantic.

"Why would anyone assume the marker to write this supposed 'message' would be hidden? That would only make it more suspicious. Nah, I doubt anythin' was even WRITTEN on that letter to begin with!"

I froze, dropping the paper.

"Wait a minute… Charmy! What's the meaning of this?!" Wave exclaimed.

"I… I don't… I don't know!" I replied.

"That's ENOUGH lyin' comin' from yer mouth," Vector replied. "Ya tried to make us think that yeh were the culprit, and while you used evidence that we haven't used yet, ya also proved to us that ya made up all these allegations on the spot. The evidence ya provided has nothing to do with it."

"Y-You see… Uh… Um…"

At this point, I lost. Nothing I could do could convince them that I was telling the truth about 'me being the murderer', they ALL knew I was lying. Everyone, except one person…

Wave grasped her hands on her stand as she looked more panicked and distraught by the second. "What the?! WHAT THE HELL?! What's going on here?!"

"It ain't just the evidence."

"WHAT?..."

"Before I explain that, I wanna submit some new evidence."

"New evidence? Impossible! That can't be! There's NO new evidence! Charmy was… Charmy was!"

I wouldn't lie, while I was caught red handed, it felt GREAT seeing Wave get her bout of karma.

"Are ya sure? Yer the one who suggested it after all," Vector grinned slyly, likely also enjoying Wave squirm to him.

"I… did?"

"His keys. Ya asked 'bout the keys earlier in the trial and where they were. Who wouldda thought that one throwaway line wouldda been behind it all?"

"Just say it already! What ABOUT the keys?!"

"No doubt, Espio SHOULDDA had his keys on his body. After all, it makes sense fer them to be there. But instead, all there is in his pocket… was just a small, tea cup shard. But isn't that ironic? It's almost like… Espio planned everything in his room in advance, the mug, his bag, in the off chance that no one would see, and we would find out what happened to him quicker. After all, if he didn't have his keys on him, how could a murderer go to his room?"

Both Wave and I gawked.

"N-No! I still… I still-" I said, before Vector hushed me.

"I said, that's enough from yeh. I'm talkin' to Wave here, which, by the way… Thank yeh fer helpin' me solve this mystery. Who wouldda thought we'd work so well together?"

I could see Wave's face flush pink in both anger and embarrassment as she slammed her fist on her stand. "Damn… damn you! Look, I'll admit it doesn't work like that, but there's still no explanation of what happened to his keys!"

"Charmy, did ya see his keys anywhere while yeh were investigatin' his room?"

"D-Did I?" I asked.

"Answer the question. TRUTHFULLY."

"N-No."

"Then that settles it. Espio had the keys neither on his body nor out on the open in his room. IF he had them like that, that would mean a killer would go there, ASSUMIN' that his room was open. Considerin' how airtight we are 'bout security, is that what you REALLY want to do?"

"Oh COME ON! Listen to yourself!" Wave exploded. "How?! How can you know what I don't know! It had to have been there when Charmy went! It had to have been in there the whole time!"

It wasn't an argument, but…

"No, that's wrong!"

"Y-You!"

"How would you explain it then? Is it like Vector said? Where you'd assume that his door was open this whole time? Is that how killers work? They might be smart, but not THAT smart."

"Don't belittle me you bastard!"

"What if I told you that I think… it is like what Vector said. He left the door open, and especially, left stuff such as the broken tea mug out. Why? I bet it had to do with the fact that only him could have access to it! As we said, with no key, no one ELSE could come in!"

"W-What?!"

"And… and this proves it…"

"No it doesn't! No it…"

Wave sighed.

"…so that's your explanation…"

"As long as the dojo was sealed, and that no one assumed that Espio's door was open, there was no sign of tamperin', no sign of anyone bein' there," Vector said as I stayed silent.

"Then if THAT'S the case, why don't we talk about… WHY he did it? You said he killed sepukku, but for WHAT reason?"

"…if I had to guess, it's because of everythin' that's happened. Not just what happened to Espio, but… how we've all been."

"You're saying he committed sepukku because of us? Such a ridiculous fairy tail… and…. And for you to say…!"

"That it's likely what happened?"

Wave was shocked but shut her mouth. She grabbed her arm, turning away from us.

"Then tell me… ugh, no… Tell us. Please… why?"

I could feel tears starting to fall down my face as I looked at her. "M-Me. I'll do it. I'll explain what happened. There was never a murder. I never did it. Neither Silver, nor Rosie, nor Wave did it. Espio's killer… was h-himself."

"M-Man, I know we established this but… damn, I still can't believe its suicide!" Silver exclaimed.

"I've been lost this whole time, trust me! You got one life after all, why waste it?" Rosie added.

Tikal could only cry in response, not even saying any words or anything. I felt her pain as she sobbed, trying my best to look tough. But…

"I… I…" I began to cry. "I didn't w-want to believe i-it either. But everything matches up. He barricaded himself in the dojo and committed sepukku. And he created the locked room himself."

"He did it so no one could stop him," Vector said solemnly. "And Charmy, ya tried to claim that yeh did it so that we'd stall behind on who did it, right? I'm sure even yeh don't wanna admit that Espio could even do such a thing."

I didn't even want to look at Vector. "I know… I did it. And… and… and I did it so… s-so we'd all be punished for letting Espio down…! He… he d-did so much and yet…!"

"Charmy. I know yer sad. I know it's fine to shed as many tears as yeh can. But… ya must end this. Now."

I wiped my nose, rubbed my eyes, and sniffed. "Y-You're right. I'll… I'll try… This… This is what happened…"

 **CLOSING ARGUMENT**

"Alright… calm down, Charmy…" I said, taking a few deep breaths. "This case began earlier t-today when Espio asked Silver, Amy, and Wave to meet him at the Rec Room... Of the three people that Espio asked to meet with, Amy was the first one to arrive, going before anyone else. As a result, she hides in the locker in the Rec Room's locker. Inside the locker, she watched both Espio and Silver come into the Rec Room. It's there that Espio offers the candy to Silver, who accepts it. After this exchange, Espio makes his comment about it 'coming to an end', and Silver assumed that the comment was about him. He then proceeded to pick up the bottle with the knight chess piece in it and smashed it over Espio's head."

"After realizing what he's done, Silver concluded that he must have killed Espio. So, to cover what he did, he tried his best to what he did, not by cleaning up the pieces of the bottle, but instead, forging Amy's name on a magazine to make it seem like she did it, and that it was a dying message from Espio. After Silver ran away, Amy came out of the locker, both in shock and in anger over what Silver did. So, she put the magazine back so no one could find it, only… she put it upside down. Just as Amy was about to leave, Espio finally wakes up from his attack. This in turns, frightens Amy, who collapses."

"When she woke up, it wasn't Amy who awoke, but it was Rosie who did. Upon Rosie seeing Espio, she also panicked, attacking Espio for the se-second time with another bottle from the shelf. This explains the wounds on Espio's head, and the remaining glass flakes on his head. Unlike Silver though, Rosie assumed that Espio WAS dead this time, and she tried to clean up what she did. Disposing the evidence, she gathered the bottle shards and the queen chess piece and threw both out. This ALSO explains how Espio was attacked. After his attacks though, Espio was still alive. So, how did Espio die?"

"After crawling to the Dojo, Espio created a locked room by covering the handle of the dojo with a chair, Espio got on his knees, and using one of his kunai knives, and… and co-committed… committed sepukku… With his door left open, and the mug in his room shattered, the only thing left of Espio was the body in the middle of the dojo, leading to Tikal, Vector, and myself to uncover the body."

As I was wrapping up my closing argument, I hadn't even began to notice the tears that had fallen onto the stand. My hands shook as I looked at the others. "A-And that's the truth… Silver… never ki-killed him… Rosie never killed h-him… I ne-never killed him… H-He took his own life! That's the truth!"

It was too much for me, and I covered my face with my hands, sobbing.

"H-How could this be? Why…?!" Tikal sobbed. "W-Why would he do this?!..."

"How were you able to… How were you able to fool us… To fool ME?!" Wave questioned.

"Doncha get it?" Vector asked. "Humanity doesn't act accordin' to the strict rules of one's own self. That's what makes us all different. Yeh saw Charmy, and fer that matter, this case, under yer own two lenses. That's why ya couldn't solve this case, and if yeh refuse to accept that, yer NEVER gonna solve a case on yer own."

"Gh-!"

"See? Didn't I tell yeh before? Dismiss other people's feelin's, and karma will come back to bite yeh. What was it that yeh said? That yeh'd avoid every opportunity fer it to reach ya? Well, how's that workin' out fer ya? Did it go over smooth?"

Wave growled, staring at Vector with daggers in her eyes.

Suddenly, Egg Robo chimed in. "Okay okay okay, for Gaia's sake, I've had enough melodrama! I've watched about an hour of soap operas while you all were debating, and it was still more entertaining than anything you provided! You all made your point, yada yada… Hey, did you all forget you STILL haven't voted yet?!"

"Oh yeah, that's right," Vector replied.

"Y-You actually forgot?! Man… I feel depressed that you'd do such a thing… Ugh, whatever, you all don't have a choice anyway, so even if you don't want to, I'm going to forward your complaint to the next mouse trap for you to put your finger on and get ready to cast your vote! Now… what will it be? Will you make the right choice or wrong choice? What's it gonna be?! Oooh, I can't wait to see!"

And so, as usual, for the fifth time, our stands turned into seventeen levers with our pictures on it. I grabbed the lever with Espio's face on it and pulled it. Like the last four times, once everyone was done, the 'Egg Robo VOTE' slot machine displayed the same thing as with last time, only this time, when the reels of the machine began to slow down, it stopped on a triple of Espio's picture. ' _GUILTY_ ' was displayed in L.E.D. lights as rings shot from the machine. The slot machine rose up... and we knew that it was over...

But what did this mean? Espio killed himself, so…

How could he be a blackened?

 **CLASS TRIAL #5**

 **END**

* * *

As we all got off of our stands and Egg Robo appear, Vector started walking up to me.

"V-Vector… I-"

I couldn't get another word out before Vector slapped me as hard as he could, throwing me to the ground. I fell with an 'oomph' onto the hard ground, getting up to face the angry crocodile.

"What… in Gaia's name…" he bellowed. "Made yeh think the way ya acted in this trial was okay?!"

"I-It's because… it's because of Espio!" I argued back.

"Don't give me that shit! What, yeh WANT us all to die?!"

"You don't get that privilege…" Egg Robo sighed. "Yeah, it's true. Espio killed himself. Alright Mr. Vector, Imma head out…"

"I ain't gonna let yeh go until CHARMY gives us an answer! Why?!"

"Yeah, we almost died there!" Silver argued back. I looked at him as the silver hedgehog clearly backed away, afraid by the face I was making.

"Shut up! THIS IS PARTIALLY YOUR FAULT!"

"Answer the damn question, ya brat!" Vector said, pointing at me.

"Alright, you want the truth?! It's because it's w-what I wanted!" I could feel tears stinging my eyes for the umpteenth time again. "T-The reason Espio died… is because we all pushed him into a corner! That's why… I couldn't let him be the only one to die! I wasn't going to let you all get away with hurting him or b-bad mouthing him!"

"And that suddenly makes it okay?"

"And that TOTALLY means you wanted to take us down with you?!" Rosie question. "Oh wow, how bold of you, Chimcharm!"

"We have to atone for everything we've done…" I continued. "The fact that we did all of this to Espio, the fact that he thinks taking his life is easier… We all killed him… E-Even…. Even me…"

"FOR REAL?!" Silver exclaimed.

"B-But Charmy! What… what have we exactly done?!" Tikal cried. I pulled out the note I got from Espio's room, where Egg Robo noticed it.

"Oh, you found THAT?" he asked. "What if I told you that little note has a little message? A little message like… this?"

Egg Robo used his arm to shine a UV light onto the paper, revealing writing on the paper that I couldn't see before.

 _"The brutality of what I've witnessed over these past few days has made me desperate. I'd rather take my own life than wait to be killed. It's the most honorific task a ninja can do."_

"Don't you get it? Don't you get how desperate we made Espio over these days? This… This was really Espio's suicide note. And he left us thinking that we had become so ridden with hate that it was useless trying to reason anymore."

"T-That reminds me of something…" Tikal said, crying. "After I was attacked by Rosie and I followed him. I… I tried to calm him down, but he refused to do so. He said I was suffering now, and so was Charmy… and that he couldn't forgive himself for letting the ones he cared about getting hurt. He said it was all his responsibility and assumed we'd all kill each other."

"That… he thought he was responsible! He thought this was all his fault! Don't you get it? Espio wanted to forgive them, right?"

Tikal nodded. "He wanted to talk… to them. I-I tried to dissuade him but… he said they weren't his enemy, but his friends just like me, Charmy, and Vector."

"Then see?! You three; if you only talked to him, you would have understood! B-But no! You didn't! You all sh-shunned him, and he was only trying to talk to you! You attacked him, you verbally abused him, and… a-and you caused him to end his own life, thinking any kind of rationality between h-his friends was as good as dead!"

"N-No!" Silver objected, shaking his hands. "It was… it was a misunderstanding!"

"What misunderstanding?! WHAT DO YOU KNOW, YOU IDIOT?! YOU FUCKING ATTACKED HIM, YOU _BASTARD…_ Do you not care about how desperate he was, or do you only regret it now because he's actually dead?!"

I could see Silver shrink more and more by the second.

"Espio had weaknesses too. He's a person like us all… but that's normal! Even if he had his weakness, he tried his best to work around it! We ALL have that! And yet… and yet because he wasn't perfect, you all blamed him, thinking he'd be the next blackened and that he'd betray us! I tried to protect him, we just only became more divided, and yet-"

"Charmy," Vector said, trying to stop me.

"LET ME FINISH!"

Vector slapped me in response. "Is this what ya want?! Yer foolishness getting' us killed?!"

"We… we… w-we all killed him!... All of us!... We pushed h-him into a corner and murdered h-him! People like u-us… we shouldn't exist!..."

By then, I could no longer form sentences, as my crying turned to sobbing. I collapsed onto the ground, not caring if I had my hands over my face and bawling like a baby.

"That's… why you tried to lead us astray…" Wave said in between my sobs. "You tried your best to make us come to a false conclusion, first by claiming that we had done it, and then it was revealed that neither myself, Silver, or Rosie was responsible, you went for the next best thing: yourself."

I nodded. Tikal walked up to me and I hugged the echidna girl, burying my face in her shoulder. She said nothing, only rubbed my back like my mom used to do when I got hurt as a kid. Suddenly, as if to interrupt the moment…

"I'm sorry to interrupt this scene of pure tearjerker-ness, but…" Egg Robo said. "But it's taking so long! I mean, it's so irritating just listening to you cry! Maybe THIS is why you're one of the most irritating characters in the canon! You cry fountains and just annoy people! I mean, do you REALLY think you know what Espio was thinking as he died?"

I lifted my face and stared at the robot, my face still wet but now hurting and aching. "W-What did you say?"

"Everything you said is just interpretation, right? It's what you THINK the suicide note says, right?"

"Are you saying I'm a liar?! Read this! Read this and tell me I'm wrong!"

"I have no need to tell you. The foundation is already shaky as is!"

"Huh?..."

Egg Robo pulled out another piece of paper from his coat, holding it out to me. "What if it was like this?"

"W-What's that?..."

"Isn't it obvious? It's a suicide note. It's ESPIO's suicide note."

"B-But I have his!"

"Oh ho ho ho! You think that was REAL?! Oh, I'm going to die laughing! No, I wrote that all on my own! No, this is addressed to Charmy and Vector, but it does involve the rest of you too!"

"Y-You… you LIED to me!"

"Oh, don't say lie! It sounds so dirty! I thought it was going to make things more interesting! I WAS right, no? Besides, you took it at face value! It didn't even have Espio's neato signature on it too!"

"You filthy!-"

"Ah ah ah! Don't use that word on me! I didn't do anything! Did I falsify evidence? Did I affect the outcome of the class trial? NO! I did neither of those! The case happened and you all solved it! So, what's the problem?"

"Well tell us, what did he write?" Vector asked, getting closer to the robot.

"Jeez, no need to walk towards me like I'm pray! This isn't the world of carnivores meet herbivores! But since you asked nice…I'll read it out in my best, non-smoking voice! Before I do that, I kinda wanna ask… what's with the whole thing about suicide notes? Wouldn't you want to die being forgotten by everyone and with your secrets with you? Besides, suicides are boring! You can't hear their stories, their truth is lost in darkness, and all this crap that make me bored!"

"Get on with it!"

"Okay okay, fine! I'll read it! Kids, are you reading along? Ahem…"

And with that, he began.

* * *

 _"To my caring friends, Charmy and Vector,_

 _I'm sorry._

 _I write this message to tell you something I've been dreading to tell you two since the day we first met. It's been a truth I've been scared about you all finding out._

 _As you know surely by now, I have been providing information to the one who has imprisoned us here. After our first night here, the mastermind of this game came to see me. You must understand that the mastermind took control of my clan's, the Shinobi, dojo and demanded that for it to be returned to its rightful owners, that I must become the tool of the mastermind. For the rest of you, I imagine that a dojo is just a dojo, nothing to get worked up over. But, to myself and the rest of the Shinobi Clan members, the dojo is our home, and the only remaining relic of our 300-year-old history. I could never let my dojo be destroyed, so even if it meant my own life, even if I meant I had to commit unspeakable acts, I had to protect it._

 _At least, that's how I first saw it._

 _Because that was my greatest weakness; giving into the mastermind. And by doing so, I let the mastermind order me to commit nothing but murder. They were worried that unless the first murder happened, then nothing WOULD happen. The mastermind believed we'd all work together to find a way out. However, neither of us expected the first incident to involve Cream. The plan changed from there. He went from telling me to commit the first murder… to hold off until we found another stalemate._

 _But as I lived here with you all… As I lived here with people like Tikal, and ESPECIALLY you two, Vector and Charmy… my resolve began to weaken. When I watched everyone fight with such despair, when I learned that Charmy had punched Wave, or that Rosie attacked Tikal with her hammer… I saw the weakness of my own heart. I realized my mistake in putting faith into the mastermind, and more than anything…_

 _I would never betray the ones I call my friend. The life of a ninja means to protect our allies, no matter how broken or damaged we are. That's how I came to feel…"_

* * *

"That's why… that's why Espio betrayed you…" I said to Egg Robo.

"Well duh! And because of that, I got my revenge by spilling his secret! And that made everyone hate him! He wanted to stay true to himself, and guess what that got him? Hatred against his peers! It's like he filmed some kinda cringy viral video and everyone mocked him for it! That kind of hatred! Ho ho ho! Ironic isn't it? Now, let me continue…"

* * *

 _"Of course, I completely understand why you'd all either suspect me or hate me. For that, I cannot blame you. I would suspect you if I was in your shoes. If you attack me, I will take it with grace. I will not fight back. This is my atonement for betraying you, and nothing I can say or do will likely get you all to change your mind. I've come to accept that now. But that isn't enough. Nothing can be done by accepting your hatred. My own situation was meant to be for me and for me only, not for you all to be dragged into this. It's exactly what the mastermind wanted when they revealed by betrayal. It brought suspicion, disharmony, and soon, the mastermind knew that someone would end up killing regarding our situation. I… I could never bear that happening. Your lives were not on my shoulders, and yet… I'm still responsible for that."_

 _"I have an obligation to fulfill, and so I'll do what the mastermind wants me to do. I'll kill, but it won't be any of my friends. It'll be myself. If the mastermind wants me to kill someone, then fine. That someone shall be me. My dojo will be safe, my clan will be safe, and you all will be safe. When I die by honor, my blood will soak into the flowers and enrich the earth below, causing new life to form from where I bled. Cherry blossoms will fly, signaling my descent to the heavens above us. Most important, the source of conflict dies with me. If it means you all stop fighting, if it means that you all gain the hope to defeat the mastermind once and for all, then I will accept my death. If it can save you, then I will gladly die with honor, knowing I fulfilled my life for such a great purpose. Whatever you think of me, Vector, Charmy, Wave, Silver, Tikal, and Amy… and the ones who died before us, you all were the most treasured friends I've had, and you've taught me that a life of solitude means nothing when I have you all to be with."_

* * *

"E-Espio… did all of that… he didn't hate us…" I said, already feeling emotional yet again. "He only did this to… stop us from fighting… to protect us.."

Vector looked at me then at Egg Robo. "He did this not cause he was weak… it's cause his own strength told him that sacrificin' himself would lead to a better outcome than lettin' things play out naturally. To sacrifice so much… only a ninja could be capable of doin' that. It was his strength that made it possible," he said.

I was back to crying again, but then Egg Robo continued, and what he said…

Tore me up even more.

* * *

 _"Finally, before I end this, I want to personally apologize to you, Charmy._

 _Of everyone here that I feel like would be most affected by my demise, I feel like you would be the likely one. Hearing how you attacked Wave over her insulting me, hearing how you were upset after Rosie attacked Tikal over me, I knew you would likely be someone who would take your anger out on someone, and I needed to prevent that as quick as possible. Even me dying would be something I know you'd do your best to prevent, and once you're reading this, I guarantee you'll do everything for me to be 'avenged'. But please don't make it out like that. This is all of my choice, not of anyone else's. And while this is my choice, please understand it. I didn't want it to be taken this far, and… and I feel guilty for having done so. But what is done must be done. If I've caused you pain, I'm sorry. If I've hurt you, I'm sorry. There's only so many times I can apologize, but if you feel like you cannot forgive me… then I understand._

 _If you can find this note, please use it to end the class trial as quickly as possible. I don't want any one of you to suffer a grueling execution. I'm so sorry for leaving the task of stopping the mastermind to you all, but I've done the best I can do. Please, leave my regards and words to Wave, Silver, and Amy on my behalf. I can't tell anyone this, which is why I've opted to write this down. I'll do my best to help you all stop the mastermind, but once my purpose is done, even after death, it's you six who will rise to the top._

 _And Vector… my dear, beloved friend…_

 _Please, I know if Charmy does something drastic, please don't take your anger out on him. You must understand that Charmy does come from a place of vulnerability and emotion. I don't wish to defend what he does, but please, remember to always treat him with love and respect. He's your friend too like I was with you._

 _I never saw all of you my enemies. You were only ever my friends who I wanted to help as much as possible._

 _Vector… Charmy… no matter what, please survive with everyone else. It makes me upset that I can't join you in the end, but if you have each other, then I know I'll be happy, even in death._

* * *

"I… I thought… I didn't understand how he felt…" I quietly sobbed. "I thought we were close but… but…!"

"But in the end…" Egg Robo said. "It was all pointless! Just a bunch of meddling that led NOWHERE! He died so you wouldn't kill each other and be torn apart, but look what happened? You guys did that anyway! Aren't you glad that Espio died for such a stupid cause? One half of you hates each other, the other half isn't grateful at all! Thanks to you all, his death meant NOTHING! In fact, it's BECAUSE of his stupid meddling that you all died! Go on! Be mad! Everyone blame him, starting right NOW!"

We were all silent.

"Well? Go on! Blame him! Otherwise… we can go on deciding the next victim!"

I wiped my eyes as I looked at Egg Robo. The anger I felt towards Wave, Silver, and Amy washed away. Now, my anger was directed at…

 _Him._

"What do you mean, next victim?" I said. "I'm… I'm done blaming…"

"Done blaming? Weren't you blaming three people for killing Espio?"

"Trick me with a fake note, go ahead. I don't care. I can acknowledge that I blamed them. Sure, it's wrong of me to do it. But that note made me realize one thing about being wrong… That Espio's death wasn't a waste! That Espio was right about me not blaming… blaming my friends!"

"Your… friends?" Silver asked. "I thought you like… really hated us now?"

"Espio's note… it gave me a wake-up call. The wake-up call I needed to remind me that we aren't enemies that hate each other! Even if we disagree, even if we have different values from one another, we're friends who need to work together!"

"Yeah, he's right! And man, am I happy to not be blamed! Being mad at others and displaying hatred, how can someone live like that? I don't blame Espio! Heck, I don't blame Charmy too! If Espio was my close friend, I'd be mad too!"

"Bwuagh?!" Egg Robo questioned as I got in his face.

"Whether there was a spy or not…" I said. "It never mattered, because the one we're trying to destroy… the one Espio put EVERYTHING on the line to help us out with…

I pointed at him. "…is you! No one else!"

"What do you mean? This isn't how it's supposed to go!"

Tikal put her foot down. "Yes it is! It's just not how YOU want it! The power of love and friendship transcends all, and even if we have a hard time displaying that love… we're connected by one goal! And it's defeating you!"

"Yuck, friendship speeches at a time like this? Gaia, I REALLY wanna die now! Besides, are you two SURE of that? This killing game is a competition between all of you, is it not? Your enemy is each other!"

"Unfortunately, he's right about that," Wave replied, arms crossed.

"Ahh, lovely sweet Wave! You understand, don't you! You're so lovely that you even signed this mock waiver saying you'd participate that I just made up!" Egg Robo handed Wave a piece of paper. She looked at it, and then back at us.

"I've said this before, but this game is a life or death game. The only way to survive is to win. Those are the only rules we have… Which is why…"

Wave ripped the sheet of paper and threw the scraps back at Egg Robo.

"…I no longer want part in this game," she grinned.

"Wh-WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Egg Robo screamed.

"Espio and Charmy were both willing to sacrifice their own lives to deny the reality of this game after being backed into a corner. Thanks to that, it seems that all of us have cast aside the fear we once had about this game. That means there's no point in participating in something that isn't a rush of excitement to win in. That's why I want no part in it. Heck, give me a wrench and I might just unscrew all the bolts on the windows myself."

"B-Bu-But! You're a Babylon Rogue! You care more about winning than ANYTHING!"

"On the contrary, Jet is the one who cared more about winning. I made him happy by winning. But what you don't understand is that winning is just more than reaching first place. You don't win just by dumb luck, there's factors you must put into it as well. If you don't do that, then you fail to win."

"You lost me now! Get to the point!"

"Multiple motives have been given to us, and yet we all stand here in the end. If it is us that's been selected to defeat you, so be it. We shall win not because of me, not because of Espio, not because of Vector, but by our hands, and… yes, dare I say, even the hands of the ones who've fallen here! Our new goal is this: to heap the harshest punishment possible on the one who thinks they can control me."

"And me!" Silver added.

"Don't forget me as well!" Tikal continued.

"Eh, my Darling Shiruba is the only one I care about, so if he tells me not to kill and to defeat you all, guess I'm going along with you guys too!" Rosie said.

"W-Wave!... Does this mean?..." I asked before she cut me off.

"Don't get me wrong. You might have inspired me to do one of your dumb speeches, but I haven't been moved by thoughtless sentimentalism. I'm just doing what's best, even if it means I have to drag you all along with me."

"E-Everyone!..."

Vector walked up to Egg Robo and smirked at him. "See, Egg Robo? Go ahead: say that Espio died fer nothin'. _I dare yeh._ If even Wave was moved… that should prove to yeh that nothin' yeh'll say will work anymore."

Egg Robo huffed. "Hmph, how boring! I don't want it to be happy go lucky fun time anymore! Nothing good should be coming out of this, so I should be the one having the happy go lucky fun time, not you chumps!"

"Fun time?..." Silver asked.

"You heard me! Time to get rid of all this good vibes I'm getting from you all and rip it down with cold hard despair and get back on track! Because it's PUNISHMENT time!"

"P-Punishment?!" Rosie questioned. "But uh… Espio killed himself. There's no punishment! What, ya just gonna punish the portrait? I call woodchipper execution!"

"Y-You're not gonna…" I said, fear chilling my blood as I realized that I was the one who had nearly messed everything up. "I-Is it me?!"

"Heavens, NO!" Egg Robo said. "Just because you've been a bad boy during the trial and the blackened killed themselves doesn't mean I can sub in any ol' student I feel like! I'm very particular to my rules after all! But… aw… I spent so much time coming up with my punishment, I don't want it to be in vain! So instead, none of you are gonna be executed. Instead… it's going to be a very special guest!"

"Special guest?"

"You heard it right! Now get ready and let's give it everything we've got cause it's PUNISHMENT TIME!"

We were all confused as Egg Robo vanished. We looked around to see one of the walls opening up and the floor under our feet moving quickly to take us to where this mystery execution sight was. But when we arrived and saw what it was…

* * *

 _The room around a large grassy hill was completely pitch black as a pile of stone tikis rose from the ground. On the tiki was a laptop which was just turned on, displaying Ditz's screen. The room around Ditz lit up as the grassy hill was bright and shiny, but grew pitch black when Egg Robo flew above Ditz with a wrecking ball underneath a floating machine. The wrecking ball hung above Ditz, almost as if it were a disaster zone waiting to happen. The machine lowered slightly as the tip of the ball touched the top part of the laptop, gently making contact._

 _Egg Robo raised up his machine, swinging the ball…_

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _The Green Hill Mobile-H Blast_**

 _…and it made contact with the laptop, sticking onto it like a piece of tape as the wrecking ball quickly moved like a pendulum, crashing the laptop into pieces as it hit the wall. Bits of plastic and motherboard fell from the laptop as it continued to swing, the crunch of materials being heard with each contact of the wall. After about a minute of turning the laptop into nothing more than a jumble of trash, the laptop was left on the stone tiki where it once lay as Egg Robo put a fake moustache that looked like his own on it, tumbling the stone tiki as it and Ditz fell to the ground in a pile of trash._

* * *

"Y-You!" I said once we finally left the execution sight, a smug look on Egg Robo's face.

"OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Silver exclaimed, hands on the side of his face. "You absolutely SUCK, man! You turned Ditz into a mangled hunk of junk!"

"Ditz? Is THAT its name? Bah! Now I'm GLAD I got rid of it with a dumb name like that! It took a lot out of me though, so maybe I should enjoy some protein once I go on and get! Ho ho ho!"

I only stared at Egg Robo with malice. I was reminded of what Ditz was telling us before we last saw them. They knew how dangerous it would be, and yet… and yet! They still wanted to do it!

Why… Why did it turn out like this?

Anger filled my body as I had to stop myself from lunging at Egg Robo. "You! How DARE you hurt my friend?!"

"Friend? FRIEND?! OH HO HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOOOO! Are you really THAT pathetic that a computer is your friend! Man, what a total NEET! Next thing I know, you'll be telling me that you wanna marry this Ditz thing!"

"Shut the hell up! Ditz was more than laptop, it was our friend!"

"Look kid, a laptop doesn't have a soul. Sure, you might be sad about yours dying, but can't you just get a new one? Besides, it's why hardware companies exist! Their products break down, so you don't question it and buy new things and get excited for new things! Well, call it whatever you want, I don't care. It got in my way, so I wanted it out of my life! It was trying to find things out all sneaky sneaky…"

"Just as I thought…" Vector said. "Ya finally noticed him."

"FINALLY? Oh no no no, I knew about it from the very beginning! I knew it was Tails', but why the heck would I leave a laptop for it to gather dust? Nope, I left it out for you guys to… play solitaire or whatever! Besides, who else do you think left the laptop and the charger? Gaia?"

"So it was yeh who left it out…"

"Of course! I knew eventually you'd find Ditz so I let you have your little fun with it! But I wasn't expecting you all to connect to my private server! No no! No one goes in there to see what I have, not my private email server, not my secret pictures of me, no one! Besides, you'd all find out the truth anyway so… why not give you a head start? It's a reward from me!"

Ditz wanted to help us, no matter the cost. And just like Espio… Ditz took the fall for us.

"Ho ho ho… now I'm feeling a bit better! Sad I couldn't punish something living but hey, what can you do? Mope about it? Nope! It reminds me that every low can get lower!"

"No, it doesn't," I said. "Everyone who's died so far, they make us stronger! I SWEAR, we'll all get our revenge!"

"Wow, Charmy sure is getting scarier by the minute! And by scarier, I mean as scary as a Dark Chao! Which means to say… not scary at all! Anyway, it's time to bring everything to a close cause I'm sure getting tired now. But before that… I need read the postscript!"

Vector looked confused. "What postscript?"

"What, do you think I read everything on Espio's note? Nope! There's still quite a bit left! And if you excuse me, I wanna finish the rest of it! Do I have your attention! Because here comes the last part of Espio's note!"

* * *

 _"…Vector, Charmy, before I finish this, there's one more thing I must mention. Please tell this to the others when you can get the chance. Hopefully, it can be the start of you uncovering the last remaining truths of this zone. I've spoken with the mastermind on and off the whole time since my arrival, so I've learned one thing: The mastermind has done something to us. I think it's-"_

* * *

"WHOAAAAAAA now, okay, I'm not gonna read that! That was way too close!" Egg Robo said. "Another word and I would have ruined the story for the readers! Too bad! Book report is finished for today! Now go on! Go!"

"You can't stop at the most important part!" Silver said. "The mastermind did what?!"

"It makes your brain tumble all rough doesn't it? Too bad those characters don't exist in this story! You're so mad you wanna yell and wanna beg me to know what it says, right? Well that's the point stupid! I'm not gonna let you know endgame spoilers this quick! This is for getting back at you for all the crap you put me through!"

"But at least Espio's note…" I said before getting cut off.

"Like I'd ever let the likes of someone like you get your grubby little mitts on it!"

"B-But!"

"Sucks to be you, LOSER!"

Egg Robo laughed as he read the note back to himself. Suddenly, he stopped as his eyes grew.

"W-What's this hogwash?!" he asked.

"What is it now?" Vector asked.

"There's one more line! And… and it's addressed to me!"

* * *

 _"Finally, let me say this to the mastermind: I'm not going to lay down and die. I will fight you, even in death, even if my body has rotten, you bastard. No matter what."_

* * *

"What, Espio's just gonna come back like a zombie? But he's gonna be all shiny purple and does nothing but infect other people! He's not gonna be dangerous at all! I don't even fear him!" Egg Robo huffed. "What a stubborn loser!"

I grinned. The fact that Espio still wants to help us, no matter the circumstance… It really was like he was watching us from the sky…

"Well, whatever! Who cares about what a dead ninja has to say! I'm outtie! This chapter has gone on for way too long, and I'm just gonna bore the reader with all of these big words! Just remember! Try to get some rest and take some time to reconsider how you all view this zone life! Are you SURE you don't wanna graduate? Do you not care about getting out? Think about that tonight! Think about it long and hard!"

With that, Egg Robo finally vanished, leaving us to look at each other. But what was that about? What was Espio's last message? The mastermind did something to us?...

In fact, now that I think about it…

Didn't Vector say something similar after Blaze's trial?

But what was it? Was it physical? Was it mental? Am I missing a part of my body? I started feeling every part of my body, and it… felt like everything was there. So, what did the mastermind do? Is there like… a bomb in me? I once player a video game where that happened, and it was in this person's stomach. Do we all have one in there? I mean, my stomach doesn't LOOK stitched up so it can't be… But what happens if we leave the zone? If there was a bomb in there, would it explode the second we leave?!

Thought after thought plagued my mind as I scratched my head in confusion.

No, I must stop thinking like this! There's no way something like this would happen! And even if it did… it sounded too fake to be real!

Most importantly…

"Yo so… the trial is done with and Egg Robo's gone…" Silver said. "Now what?"

"What else can we do besides head back?" Wave asked. Before she could leave, I spoke up.

"Wait, Wave."

The swallow stopped.

"No, all of you."

"Oh, dial back your ego, bee. It doesn't suit you," she replied. "You could never pose a big mystery. I would have never lost that kind of challenge."

"What are you talking about? Vector was pretty much the one who tore him down," replied Silver.

"Shut up."

I continued, ignoring their banter. "Look I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been that way with you. Blaming you for what happened, trying to get us all killed…"

"You can apologize over and over, but what's done has been done. There's no erasing it. There's no need for constant apologies."

"I see what you mean… But look…"

"Ah ah ah. No. Espio died for us apparently, right? Stop pitying yourself. Not only are you muddying what he did, you're ignoring what he wanted."

I shut my mouth as I looked down at my feet. I could feel large footsteps walking my way as I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Vector, who just nodded.

And with one simple nod, we turned around and left.

* * *

Espio's class trial came to an end as we returned to Green Hills. I would like to say I got my good nights rest, as I returned to my room and got in bed after we got back.

But fate had other plans for me…

About an hour or two into my deep sleep, I swore I could hear…

A voice.

"…wa… ke… up… Wake up…"

"Huh?" I replied, rolling in my bed as the voice got me up. I wasn't sure who it belonged to: a boy? A girl? I wasn't even sure, but it only made me more confused as I tried my best to open my eyes. As I finally got them open, I was staring at green and beige through my blurry vision. Rubbing my eyes, I could see a familiar face.

"V-Vector?..." I asked in a daze.

"Yeah, it's me. Who else would it be?" he replied.

"H-Hunh?..."

"Uh, didn't ya listen?"

"So Vector is now Santa?.."

"I… wait a minute, huh?"

"ARRGHHHH, IT'S NOT A DREAM!?"

I quickly got up in bed, realizing I had taken off my jacket, I looked around it quickly as the crocodile stared at me like I was an enigma.

"Good mornin', I ain't Santa, but the world ended and we're the only ones left. Have mah children."

"W-What are you going on about?!"

"Messing with a sleepy yeh. Are ya enjoyin' it?"

"No, I'm frankly horrified!"

"Good."

I quickly got my jacket on as I sat on my bed, heart still racing.

"What about my door though?" I asked.

"Unlocked. Fer Gaia's sake, I thought ya kept it locked. Ya need to do better with that.'"

"Okay, _mom._ Sorry, I forgot."

"No need to overreact."

"What time is it anyway?"

"3 in the mornin'."

"Three in the… why are you up so early?!"

"I have energy, unlike yeh."

"That's besides the point… it's so late… what happened?..."

"I have a favor I wanna ask."

"Favor?"

"Remember what Espio said at the end of his note? The line 'bout how he'll fight Egg Robo, even in death? I wanna understand what he meant by that."

"Well, you can't ask him. He's dead."

"I know, which is why…"

Vector got closer as he whispered into my ear. I looked at him with bewilderment.

"The data center on the 4th floor, remember that?" he said.

"Huh?..."

"Meet yeh there."

Vector walked off as I was left speechless. What about the data center? What was there? And why did we need to go so early?!

* * *

After buzzing my way to the data center, I hoped that Egg Robo wouldn't catch me out for being late. I mean, not that it wasn't against the rules or anything…

As I flew across the halls, I could hear the buzz of electricity coming from the lights. Every time I heard that buzz, I felt uncomfortable. It was like being in a dark alley, a streetlight shining below you and buzzing while you stare at a large silhouette of someone or… something…

Ignoring the goosebumps on my arms, I finally reached the data center. When I arrived however, Vector was nowhere to be found.

"Hm? He's not here? I wonder where he is…" I said to myself. I buzzed over to the data center and tried to open the door, only for the doorknob to rattle.

"Damn, locked. Where is he?"

I tried again, but to no avail.

"What was is that he said? Data center on the-"

My thoughts were interrupted as Egg Robo popped up in front of me, scaring the living daylights out of me. I won't lie: I screamed like a little girl.

"Oh HO! Up late AND screaming like you just saw that your favorite clothing store has a sale? What are YOU doing here, Mr. Charmy?" the robot asked.

"I… Uh… I can explain!"

"Oh, you can explain? Surely you weren't about to break into the data center, WERE you?! After all, you remember the rules about breaking down doors! It's a big no no!"

"Y-Yeah yeah, of course I remember! It's just-"

"Sure sure, you DIDN'T bust in, but… I know that! I'm not blind! I have a pair of eyes you know! It LOOKED like you were about to break in, so I decided to be nice and try to stop you before you tried doing it… So don't do it! Or, maybe you were sleepwalking? Or sleep buzzing in your case! Geez, don't you kids sleepwalk to get a piece of pie anymore?"

"N-No, nothing like that!"

"Then WHY were you up! I was in the middle of my oatmeal bath before heading to bed! I get tired too you know!"

"How can you take a bath if you're a robot… oh never mind."

"Stop being weird and go back to bed! I know it's not against the rules, but heaven knows what you'll do after hours!"

"Ah, there you are. What's wrong?"

Both Egg Robo and I turned our heads to face Vector, who was walking our way. "Why are yeh makin' such racket?"

"V-Vector?!" I questioned, wondering where he was.

"Argh, you two?!" Egg Robo exclaimed. "Whatever! Vector, get your bee son out my sight and go back to bed! I'm exhausted from the trial!"

Vector shrugged. "Sure, no prob. C'mon Charmy, let's go."

"Uh…"

"Didn't ya hear? We're leavin'."

Vector grabbed me by my hand as we took off, Egg Robo telling us to go on and get from behind us as we walked back to the main hall on the first floor. Just as we reached it, Vector started walking forward.

"Well, see ya."

I was getting livid now. "See ya? See ya?! Hold on! Explain to me: what was all of that? You woke me up late, made me go to the data center, get chewed out by Egg Robo, and for what? For nothing? Where were you even? What was the point?"

Vector sighed. "Dun worry about it."

"Vector, I'm gonna worry about it!"

"Good night, Charmy."

I was speechless. Why was he being vague? Was he hiding something?

I didn't even care. I wanted to get back to bed. So, I rushed to my room.

…only to get stopped by Vector.

"What the- what now?!" I said.

"Shh."

We were both silent as he looked around, and then… he whispered three words into my ear.

 _"Infinite the Jackal."_

Huh?...

"In-"

"Dun be loud."

"Who-"

"Infinite the Jackal, the 18th student. I had mah suspicions that there was another one of us here, but now I know the truth. They're hidden in the zone walls."

"Who… who are they?..."

"…the one they call the Ultimate Despair. I have just one word of advice fer ya: Watch out fer him."

Vector walked off as I was left gob smacked. There was an 18th student? Hidden among us? Ultimate Despair? So many questions ran through my head, but I couldn't get an answer, not tonight.

I was restless now. The idea of an 18th student, hiding among the walls… Where were they?

Come to think of it, didn't I have an encounter with someone like that a week or so ago? A strange voice in the warehouse, someone I couldn't see… Was that Infinite the Jackal?

And how did Vector find out about him?

I wanted to go back to bed and forget this, but I couldn't. Since I was awake, I looked at the kitchen.

"Too bad it's closed."

I then looked at the warehouse, getting an idea.

* * *

I sat on my legs as a lone Go board sat by me, a cup of herbal tea next to me, and another cup of herbal tea sitting untouched on the other side of the board. Steam rose from both cups as I placed my mouth on my cup, drinking my tea. I sighed, seeing the cherry blossoms in the dojo fall into my cup, the Go board, and my teacup. I looked at the board and moved my black stone onto a forward tile.

"If only you were here to fufill your promise…" I said, bowing.

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5**

He said: "Mankind's pain comes from lies and truths"

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Amy Rose/Rosie the Rascal

Vector the Crocodile

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Wave the Swallow

Tikal the Echidna

 **Deceased**

Cream the Rabbit

Rouge the Bat

Miles 'Tails' Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog

Storm the Albatross

Jet the Hawk

Big the Cat

Blaze the Cat

Espio the Chameleon

 **?**

Infinite the Jackal

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **(AN 2: Trial 5 comes to an end, and last time, Espio was revealed to have killed himself, with Charmy taking the blame as revenge against everyone for 'letting Espio die', not knowing that Espio harbored no hatred for his friends. Despite the numerous blows, both physical and mental, Charmy expierences new hope when he rallies his new friends against Egg Robo, only to find their AI ally, Ditz, executed.**

 **And now... the whispers of an 18th student? Who is Infinite the Jackal? Why was he hidden? And more importantly... where is he?**

 **The mystery of Green Hills continues in Chapter 6: A Painful Dash, A Painful Spiked Wall, A Painful Life Loss: coming soon!)**


	40. Chapter 6 (Daily Life 1)

**(AN: With only one chapter left after this one, things are finally coming to an end! And since 2020 is coming soon, I have some big plans for the future! But until then, we'll have to see the end of DHZ first!**

 **And with six characters left, will they all survive? Or will one more go down before the end?)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo bounced while skipping to a tape deck, a cassette in his hand. When he reached the tape deck, he stopped himself, took a deep breath, and held out arms as his coat suddenly poofed into a tank top, multiple gold chains, sagging shorts, freakishly ugly basketball shoes, a backward cap, and a microphone in his left hand. Putting the cassette in the tape deck, an instrumental beat began to play as Egg Robo brought the microphone to his lips._

 _"Uhn…" he said, warming up his vocals. "Yeah… Uhn… Yeah, Egg Robo in da house, we gonna get and bounce, Drama in the walls, and cryin' in the halls, Hope takin' that bullet, I hope it gets a mullet."_

 _As Egg Robo continued his rap, another Egg Robo looked at his friend Egg Robo.. "Can this guy even rap?" he asked._

 _"I don't know, but let's mock him from here."_

 _"…Despair in this total life, better become my wife, Even with death in air, better get me some hair-"_

 _"Oh yeah, that was horrendous…" the other Egg Robo whispered to his friend._

 _"Let's pray for our deaths soon. Maybe then we'll escape this nightmare…"_

* * *

 _"Infinite the Jackal."_

 _"In-"_

 _"Dun be loud."_

 _"Who-"_

 _"Infinite the Jackal, the 18th student. I had mah suspicions that there was another one of us here, but now I know the truth. They're hidden in the zone walls."_

 _"Who… who are they?..."_

 _"…the one they call the Ultimate Despair. I have just one word of advice fer ya: Watch out fer him."_

* * *

Vector told me to watch out for him…

Infinite the Jackal…

That was three days before…

…the next incident.

Three days before we would be faced with another murder. Three days before the worst thing so far… would happen…

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents…**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 6:**

 **A Painful Dash, A Painful Spiked Wall, A Painful Life Loss**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 1**

In the meantime, I should get you caught up in what's happened since then. A day after Espio's trial, we all sat around in the dining hall, very few breakfast items in front of us.

"Well, you know what time it is for us," Wave said, breaking the silence. "Time to begin our post trial spiel."

"What do you mean spiel?" Silver asked. "Are there even like, any more floors for us to discover?"

"Don't get sidetracked, dorkfest."

"Hey, I wasn't!"

"On the contrary, you were. If you want to keep up with me, we can't be distracted by the usual antics you all get up to."

"How high of that horse are you on to say that…" Tikal mumbled.

"Don't think I didn't hear that, pacifist girl. Regardless, I'm going to choose to ignore that comment. If you want to defeat the mastermind, let me take over the reins. It's true that the mastermind prowls like a beast, but their pride is beyond bloated."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Think of the mastermind as an angry chao. Sure, they're angry, but it doesn't change that they're docile creatures. Once you find the thing that gets them, they're powerless under you. Not like I'd know, Chao raising was never my thing."

"Yeah, I figured the whole mechanics thing would. Are you gonna actually unscrew all the bolts as you said?"

"It's an empty threat, bee. What, do you think I HAVEN'T tried that already?! My wrenches are either too big, too small, or they're sealed beyond tight."

"Maybe it's time to make a new one?" Amy asked. "I mean, Jet and Storm made one."

"Out of something that isn't what you use for wrenches. Sorry, but marble doesn't even compare to pure hard metal."

"Then… maybe you could invent a new device?"

"…perhaps, we'll see."

"Ain't this the small talk ya told us not to make?" Vector asked.

"For once, I agree with you, croc. And yet," Wave put her beak on her hands. "I willingly participated. Whatever, enough of this. I think it's time that we begin our search."

"Why in the heck would there be six floors? I mean, haven't what we found already been enough for this zone?" Silver asked. "I mean, what's left?

"We'll see when we actually get up, using our LEGS, dorkfest, and go there instead of running our mouths."

Wave got up from her seat and made her way out of the dining hall, leaving the five of us behind.

"I dun like how we let her take charge…" Vector said.

"Likewise," I sighed. "Well, we should see regardless."

I got up from my seat, leaving my half-eaten apple on the table. If Egg Robo gets mad that I left it there, he can just bite me. Besides, he's the one who forced me into this killing game, an apple he must throw away won't kill him. After getting out my PAD, I looked at the map of the zone to see the final floor unlocked to us. Unlike the other floors however, there were no classrooms, no extra rooms, none of that. It was just one massive room. I thought it would have been another gym, but it wouldn't have made sense. I mean, what else would be here?

My question would be answered when we had all finally reached the stairs. After going up, we were surprised when we noticed that the stairs to the sixth floor were dark. As we turned the corner, we found out because the stairs led to a door that emanated a lot of light. Vector looked through the window as Tikal, Silver, Amy, and I stood behind the crocodile.

"What is it?" Tikal asked.

"It ain't real…" he said, opening the door. We all entered inside and were shocked at what we were seeing. Around us was a bright blue sky, not a single cloud in the sky as tables with chairs surrounded the floor. I could hear cicadas and the sound of… cars?

Buzzing towards the metal bars, I looked down to see multiple cars driving by below us.

"Are we… are we outside?" I asked. "Is this really the outside world?"

I turned my head to see Silver pointing up at the ceiling. "No, look."

I looked where the hedgehog was pointing. The shine of the sun blinded my eyes until I realize that it seemed…

Fake.

"Is this?..." I asked.

"Yeah, it's just like the garden. It's a fake scenery."

"Another one?..." Tikal asked. "But why?... Is this to mock us?"

Egg Robo appeared in between all of us. "On the contrary, Tikal! This is all to reward you! You all have done such a good job surviving up till now, I thought: wouldn't it be nice to fuel your desire to see the outside world without actually having you guys enter the outside world? So here it is! I worked hard on designing this room, and that's not all! All the tables and chairs are here for you to come and eat! I know you're probably all tired of eating in the stinky ol' dining hall, so I made you guys…" the robot waddled over to a small elevator. "A little food elevator for you all to bring your food up here! And you can set it to where your food will stay warm or cold depending on what it is!"

"That's it?" Wave asked.

"Well, we have vending machines here too, but other than that, yup! Hope you enjoy your reward!"

Egg Robo vanished as the swallow huffed. "All of this for a foolish roof? Is this all this investigation is going to lead to? It's nothing more than a waste of time…"

"B-But… you can't deny that this whole place makes you miss the outside…" Amy replied. "Man, it's like when I used to eat with my friends at the mall in those outdoor food courts-"

"Not everything is like a mall, pinky. If this was a mall, it might be the bloodiest one I've seen."

"I watched a movie about that before!" Silver said.

"And now we must leave before we start talking about subjects that distract us."

Wave left the roof as Silver looked around. "What? Was it something I said?"

"Wave's right," Vector replied. "There ain't much fer us here to explore. I doubt we can even do a proper investigation like this. We should head back fer now."

"B-But what is there us left to do?"

"…find some new clues, even if it means retracing our steps…"

Vector left as well as the others followed behind him, leaving me behind. I looked back at the roof, wishing for the days the hot sun would shine on my skin as I enjoyed a day out. Maybe one day, I'll get to feel like what it feels like…

With not much left, I started buzzing down the stairs, wondering what I should do. Should I ditch everyone and gamble all my money away on capsules? Since there are only 5 people left, I could probably give them out like hotcakes. Or maybe I should do what Vector said and try to find some more clues, or maybe I should try to find a new picture sitting right in front of the door to the Rec Room.

…

Wait, what.

As it turns out, as I was about to head down the stairs to the second floor, I found myself staring at…

 _Another photo._

I gasped when I saw it. When was this here? Was this a trap? How long would it be before Egg Robo would notice me taking it?

I was about to grab it, before stopping myself.

No, that's what Egg Robo WOULD want. He'd want me to grab it and see it before taking it off my hands before I had the chance to show someone. Before I had the chance to show _Vector…_

I didn't know what to do here. I could grab the photo and make a bolt to where Vector was. Perhaps dragging him to the bathhouse would be a good idea. No, Egg Robo would assume I'd be there. If he already knew about Ditz, then there's no doubt he'd find me there. Maybe I could go inside the sauna? After all, he's a robot, but I know he has some dignity. But… I know Vector would absolutely be against the idea.

Shaking my head, I knew what to do. I ignored it.

…

Only to later come back with Vector, pretending like we were talking about the crocodile's favorite detectives. As we passed by the photo, I made a quick grab for the photo as Vector's large frame covered my body. The crocodile looked down at me.

" _Got it?"_ he whispered. I nodded in return.

" _The physics lab should be a perfect place to look at it."_

And so, we made our way to the lab, the crocodile examining the cameras.

"Alright, as long as we hide behind the massive air purifier, we should be fine."

After doing so, I took the photo out from my jacket and buzzed up to Vector's face.

"Well, what it is?" he asked.

"I haven't seen it myself, I wouldn't know!" I replied. I turned the photo over and…

 _I dropped it._

The other photos were weird, had no reason to exist even. Depicting scenes of happy friends with each other, no sealed windows, no despair, almost like a time of fun and laughter. And all this time, it depicted people who have passed away here.

So when Vector picked up the photo to look at the image, we both looked at each other. We didn't know what to make of this.

I mean… how exactly do you explain a picture of you with Vector and Espio in it, all three of you smiling? Vector with a grin showing off his pearly white teeth, Espio crossing his arms and giving a peace sign, and myself… myself, who had his arms raised about his head.

This wasn't normal. I don't remember this…

And Vector felt the same way too. "I dun ever remember takin' this," he said.

"What does this mean?" I asked. "I never took this either."

"It means, when will you learn the fourth time?!"

Vector and I turned around only for Egg Robo to swipe the picture from the crocodile's hands. I gasped.

"Y-You!"

"Man, it's like I keep being so clumsy with this!" Egg Robo said.

"Don't you ignore ANYTHING! Tell me NOW: what does that picture mean?! I NEVER took that!"

"You didn't? Man, it's like you have short term memory loss or something! Maybe you took it with Espio before he died! You never know!"

"I never know because you take it from me! Four photos, four DIFFERENT photos! What do they mean?!"

"Well gee, if I told you, I'd-"

Egg Robo stopped when Vector walked in front of him. "Talk. NOW."

"Whuh-oh! If I speak now, Vector's gonna think he intimidated me enough to talk to him! Which will never happen! Sorry suckers, I just gotta keep this image for safe keeping!"

Egg Robo vanished as we looked at each other.

"What do you think it means?"

"…there's somethin' 'bout our past that he's hidin' from us. But what? I couldda never taken that image…"

"That's what gets me too. How is there an image we don't recognize?"

"I think that's somethin' we need to talk 'bout with the others. Fer now, let's get back to the dinin' hall."

"Right."

* * *

As we returned from the dining hall, we saw the others waiting for us.

"Well? Where were you?" Wave asked.

"We got caught up in something," I replied.

"Don't tell me… you're the new Vector and Espio?!" Silver exclaimed.

"What? No! Besides, that's their thing, not mine!" I argued.

"W-What the hell are ya implyin'…" Vector growled at me.

"Well, what it is?" Tikal asked.

"I'll do the honors. Charmy and I found… another picture."

"Another one of those?" Wave asked. "Look, at this point, how do I not know if you're lying or not? For you to be so shaken up by a photo, surely you must have it, right?"

"Well, Blaze and Silver saw the pictures, so you know I'm not lying," I said. "What's beyond that… the picture showed me with Vector and Espio, but I don't remember taking those pictures. I never even met them before coming here!"

"Then how could they exist? Perhaps… maybe our memories were taken?"

Our memories?

Now that I thought about it, Vector and Espio DID say something about a change with our bodies. Was this it? Did Egg Robo somehow wipe our memories of each other? But… that doesn't make sense. When I arrived at Green Hills, I suddenly came into this dimension via the warp ring. Was there something hidden underneath that?

I could see Vector scratching his chin, ignoring all of us.

"Well, regardless, it's another picture. So what? Egg Robo likely wants to confuse us at this point!" Silver said. "I mean, why open just a roof to us if he wants us to explore the zone as much as possible? Maybe having a small roof like that is punishment for having Ditz around?"

"I don't doubt it…" Amy said. "Egg Robo was probably so angry about it that our last clue is a dinky roof with no clues, just so we can get confused! And what about another trial, huh?"

"There isn't gonna be one! I just know it! Also, I'm glad to see you're still talking to me, Ames!"

"Yeah well, we have to work together, even though I'm still not ready to forgive you…"

Amy turned her head, but as she did, a knife fell out from her pocket. Silver grew ghost white when he saw this.

"Oh MY GOSH, SHE'S GONNA MURDER ME!" he screamed, hands over his head.

"I'm not! I just… I found this on my way here on the floor. I should have revealed this earlier," she replied, holding it up. From here, it looked to be a black pocketknife, complete with a black blade that had spikes across the dull part of the knife. "Besides, it has a brand name here. Avalon Inc.? Wouldn't know it."

"They're probably the best-known producers of huntin' knives," Vector said. "I've seen plenty of them around."

"What do I do with it then? I don't need it."

"Maybe give it to me! I don't want it to end up in Rosie's hands!" Silver said.

"H-How dare you assume that I'll let her near! It's like you don't want me to forgive you period! Besides, I never said I wanted it around me!"

"Why not let Charmy hang onto it?" Vector said. I looked at him.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea!" Tikal smiled. "Charmy is very responsible and knows where to hide that! If anything, I know he won't let anyone touch it!"

"H-Hold on a minute, don't I get a say?!"

"It shows how much the others trust you," Wave replied. "Well? Go on, take it."

Amy handed me the knife. "Just be careful, okay, Charmy? Hide it good."

I thought back to that person… Infinite the Jackal… and Vector's warning…

Would Infinite know I have this? Would this protect me against an attack from him? Or would this guarantee my status as the next blackened?

As I put the knife in my coat pocket, my questions weren't answered at all. Instead, Wave stood up.

"Well, that's everything. As of now, consider yourselves my little soldiers," she said. "Under my command, we'll first figure out something."

"And that something is?..." Tikal asked.

"…Vector's identity."

The others looked up at the crocodile as he looked unfazed by what the swallow had said.

"So long that we've known the others here and what they like, don't like, what they fear and what their future is. And yet… we have yet to hear any of this from Vector. Why is that I wonder? Is it perhaps that Vector is hiding something from us? After all, all we know about him is that he's the Ultimate Detective. That's it. Wouldn't we have to know anything else?"

"Vector doesn't like to talk about himself, even to me!" I replied.

"I don't care whether he likes it or not. All I care about is him telling the truth so we have no reason to suspect him of anything going wrong."

"…I can't," he replied.

"W-What do you mean?" Amy asked. "Why?"

"I never said I won't. I just can't. There's very few details I remember 'bout mah life, but not all of them are whatcha need."

"…is this a joke?" Wave got closer to Vector. "No, seriously: at this point, we're down to only six people. And despite the fact you somehow have managed to stay alive so far, you keep all these secrets from us and expect us to not get suspicious?"

"I already knew ya wouldn't believe me. But that doesn't matter. Before we're done here, yer all gonna know the truth."

"Then we have no reason but to suspect you."

Vector was silent as Wave continued. "Too long you've been a thorn on my side, and for too long, I've tried to read you, croc. Now, I think it's time we put an end to that."

"Whaddya gonna do? Torture me? I've had worse."

"Oh, I know. That's why I'm going to cripple you."

She held out her hand. "Room key. Now."

"Wait a minute! You can't do that!" I yelled, stepping in.

"Oh, go piss off out of here, bee. This is between me and the croc. I'm just making sure he won't do anything suspicious."

"And you think doing that is okay?"

"I said the same thing about Espio, I'll spell it out here too: what do you know about Vector?"

"I-"

I stopped. I… I really DIDN'T know a lot about him besides the limited details that he told me. Wave's face didn't change as she saw me slump my shoulders.

"That's what I thought."

"B-But Wave! If you do that, Vector will be breaking a zone rule because he has no where to sleep!" Tikal said.

"And if he doesn't want to break a zone rule, then he's free to talk. But right now-"

"Fine."

All of us looked at Vector, who reached into his pocket and held out the key in his large hand.

"Well, at least you're finally in the mood for conversation," Wave smirked, nabbing the key from the crocodile's hand. "Still though, you must have one damn ego if you think you're not going to say anything to me."

"It's not that I dun want to, it's that I can't. I told ya this already."

"D-Did you really lose your memory like Tikal said?" Amy asked.

"Well, this is the worst place ever where the worst things happen, I'm sure she's right!" Silver added.

"Besides!" I said. "This isn't right! You just can't-"

"Charmy," Vector interrupted. "Enough. I can hold out on mah own. I told ya this. Besides," he turned to face Silver. "Can ya really say that the worst things ever happened here?"

"Huh?" the hedgehog asked. "What do you mean?"

"…I said too much."

Vector started to leave as Wave stepped forward. "Hey, where do you think you're going?!"

"Not harmin' any of ya. That's where."

With that, Vector left the dining hall as Wave shook her hand, key still in it. It was eerily silent, no noise made between each of us.

"I still think you went too far, Wave…" Tikal said.

"Oh, I frankly didn't go far enough. This is just a warning to him. A warning that-"

"KYAAH!"

We were suddenly cut off by Amy's shrill scream. Silver even yelped in response.

"Jeez, what was that for?!" he said. She pointed a shaking finger behind the swallow.

"L-Look!"

We all turned our heads to where she pointed, where we saw an angry Egg Robo standing there.

"It's you?! How long have you been standing there?" Silver asked.

"I don't friggin' care!" he yelled. "I'm… really… ANGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY!"

"Angry to a point where you're now hard boiled?" Tikal sighed.

"Oh, I'm MORE than just hard boiled, missy! In fact, I feel like my insides are gonna turned into scrambled mush anytime soon! I try to be nice, give you all the food you need and nice warm beds, give you all the entertainment you could ever want, and even give you a nice cool roof to celebrate you guys being alive! AND YET… AND **YET! WE…** seem to have a little bit of a THIEF in this zone!"

"A thief?"

Egg Robo sniffed. "And to think… I wanted you all to be the shining examples of heroes… DO HEROES STEAL, HUH?! IS YOUR HERO NAME GONNA BE THIEF MAN?!"

"What's even stolen?"

"My PRECIOUS!"

"Your… pardon?" Wave asked.

"What is your precious?" Tikal added.

"Argh, screw off! The lot of you! I'm trying to find my thing and you're all as useless as ever! Go die in a ditch!"

Egg Robo vanished as we all looked at each other.

"What… the fuck was that about?" Silver asked.

"Something about a precious being stolen?" Amy added.

"I think…" Wave pushed up her glasses. "It has something to do with Vector."

"Oh come on, he's not ALWAYS at fault you know!" I argued back.

"You know Vector at least a little bit. You can't deny he'd be the type to steal from Egg Robo."

I was about to open my mouth until I realized: yeah, he WOULD be the type to do so.

But if so… what did he steal? And why?

"Anyway, the day is still young," Wave said. "I say we continue our search, and just look through any place we might not have looked through yet. However, I should warn you: when it's time for nightfall, I think it's best we lock our doors and keep them sealed tight. I sense something in the air…"

"Not like we need you to tell us," Tikal sighed as the swallow ignored the comment. She walked off as the others too also got up. However, on my end, I was rather tired. I yawned, not really sure if I wanted to help with the investigation. Plus, I felt a little tickle in my throat.

"Maybe I'll lay down…" I said to myself, grabbing the knife from the table and buzzing back to the dorms and to my room. I looked at the knife still in my hand.

"Better hide this somewhere safe."

I made my way to my nightstand and opened up the same drawer that held the unopened set of tools. It's so weird, I felt like it was forever ago that we were introduced to these, and yet no one's used them.

Well, maybe because no one alive has any plans to kill anyone, _Charmy._

…right?

After closing my drawer and taking off my jacket and helmet, I got under the covers and started to shut my eyes as the lights dimmed.

* * *

And I slept…

And slept…

And slept…

Until a doorbell interrupted my sleep. I opened my eyes slowly, moving my head by a few inches. I still wasn't feeling too hot, and I wasn't in the mood to open the door.

And yet again, the doorbell rang.

"Ugh… fine, alright…" I mumbled, getting up from bed and rubbing my eyes. I looked to my clock, which read 3 am.

"Damn, I've been out that long?..." I said. Buzzing to my door, I opened my door to see Vector's large frame.

"H-Huh? Vector?"

"…bathhouse, now."

The crocodile left my doorframe as I looked at the crocodile's back. What was up with that sudden message?

I closed my door and got dressed, which just meant putting my jacket and my helmet back on and buzzed down the hall after shutting my door to the bathhouse. Vector turned around when he saw me go through the door.

"I'm here," I said.

"Sorry fer askin' ya to come out so late," Vector replied.

"No, don't worry. I'm used to it bv now. That, and I always liked to stay up late on my phone."

"That's… unhealthy, ya know."

"Hey, I'm here to have a good time, not to live forever."

Vector rolled his eyes. "Anyway…"

"You need to talk to me about something you can't let the cameras hear, right?"

"Smart kid."

"And… is it the thing you stole?"

Vector looked at me and slightly turned his head. "So… ya mighta guessed I did that."

"Might have?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key that you'd see in a cartoon. The only difference was that the bow of the key was in the shape of a Chao head.

"What is this?"

"A key."

"Well, I figured as such. Just, what kind of key? And where did you get this anyway?"

"The headmaster's office."

"T-The headmaster's?! Wait, how did you get in? I thought it was always locked!"

"The lock was broken."

"It was? By who? Did you do it?"

Vector shook his head. "Espio…"

My eyes widened as I felt my body become warm. "E-Espio…"

"Ya remember Espio's final words, right? How he'd fight the mastermind?"

"He broke into the office… just f-for us…"

"Dun get emotional on me. Espio did this fer us, I know he's gonna be here with us as we finish off the mastermind."

"B-But… he broke the zone rules, knowing he'd die for us… His final actions were…"

"Defyin' Egg Robo until the very end. But, I think I need to explain how I actually got in. After the trial, I had noticed that the door to the office was wide open. If I just went in, Egg Robo would notice me. So, as a result…"

",..you used me as a decoy for that."

Vector nodded.

"And so… did you… did you find that person's name?"

"Infinite the Jackal? Ya bet. The details on him were really limited, but all I knew was that he was dangerous."

"D-Dangerous?!"

"In fact, I have my theories to suspect that he may be the mastermind?"

"But didn't Ditz say that the headmaster was the mastermind?"

"I think that ain't the case."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't say fer certain, but I know fer a fact that he ain't the mastermind."

Without any proof though? It sounds out of character for Vector. But could he be right? Was Infinite truly our mastermind?

"With this key, every door in the zone is now open to us, and there are no rules against us usin' it. At least, as long as Egg Robo doesn't see it."

"Are you sure it opens every door?"

"Not exactly."

"But you sounded certain before!"

"That's why I called ya. We're gonna see just what this bad boy can unlock as long as ya dun mind bein' bait again," Vector smiled.

"But that's way too dangerous! Egg Robo might have been fooled once, but he's not stupid! When he sees us again, he'll know we're doing something! Besides… with Infinite and the headmaster… Are we even sure there's only one mastermind?"

"But we didn't get caught last time."

"It was just lucky!"

"Or maybe, the mastermind can't monitor us and control Egg Robo at the same time?"

"What?"

"Ya heard me. Maybe we did get lucky, but that's why we need to check if the mastermind can monitor us and control Egg Robo at the same time."

I could only just sit on the bench and listen, in awe of everything he was saying.

"I mean, the risk seems too high, even if it's something like gaining access to different parts of the zone."

"Oh, I dun think ya need to worry 'bout that. Remember rule 4 of the zone rules?"

"…with minimal restrictions, you can explore Green Hills as much as you want?"

"No restrictions have been given to us durin' our entire investigation. Not from Egg Robo or any kinda outside source. Hell, he even let us have Ditz, someone who was vital in discoverin' the truth of the zone."

I got up from the bench, getting closer to the crocodile. "All the rules don't matter, Vector! Who's to say Egg Robo still won't kill us, even if something is vaguely okay in the zone rules?!"

"Well, even if the plan fails, at least we can prove our hypothesis. Egg Robo said himself he stands by his own rules. Even if he doesn't like it, he can't do anythin' to us. Now, doesn't that sound like a reason to it?"

"But-!"

"CHARMY!" he suddenly yelled. "Enough excuses!"

I gasped. The crocodile's look softened as he looked down. "Sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at ya. It's just, yer convinced this entire plan is gonna fail. If ya spend all your time tryin' to avoid danger, yeh'll never move forward. We know the danger. But if that risk means solvin' the mystery, we have no choice."

That quote stuck by me. I was trying so hard to avoid the possibility of being punished that I hadn't realized that we have to take risks to solve a mystery, we have to take risks to get out of here… no matter how dangerous it was.

There wasn't a single look of despair on Vector's face. It was pure hope.

"Look, before we do this, there's somethin' I should do."

Vector reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a letter.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Should somethin' happen to me, open it. Until then, under any circumstance, promise me ya won't open it."

"I-If something happens?!"

"I'm not sayin' I'm gonna die, but it's always good to have a backup plan just in case. Besides, dyin' without solvin' this mystery ain't in my plans."

I took the letter. "I… I promise… I promise I'll give this back to you."

"Of course. And promise me one thing? Dun tell ANYONE about what I have. Not Tikal, not Amy, not Silver, and ESPECIALLY not Wave. None of them can know about this."

I nodded. "Gotcha."

"Ready to put the plan into action?"

"Well, other than the massive anxiety I feel in the pit of my stomach, I'd say I'm ready."

"Good," Vector slapped my back. "Give 'em hell, little guy."

* * *

Unfortunately, when we left the safety of the bathhouse, I wasn't 'giving anything hell'. In fact, my response to what was going on was the equivalent of a little kid pissing his pants in front of his fears: pure terror and anxiety.

"B-But it would be okay as long as Vector said so, right?..." I asked myself. "Vector was already gone, and… oh screw it, 5 o'clock was almost twenty hours ago."

I took a deep breath and yelled. "HEY, EGG ROBO! CAN I SEE YOU?!"

Egg Robo finally reached my location a couple of moments later.

"Oh, it's just you, Charmy. Well? You called?" he asked.

"T-That I did, yeah."

"Hey, by the by… what WERE you doing with Vector? Were you two enjoying a bath together? Nah, that sounds too weird when I put it like that. I mean, he's a giant and you're as tall as a little bitty baby. What, were you all **[REMOVED FROM THIS STORY AS TO NOT CREATE DISCOURSE WITH THE SONIC FANDOM]** and that's why it took so long?"

"NO! And besides, I'm not a prince! If I was a prince, I think I'd be the worst one!"

"Hm, yeah, you're right. I agree with that."

"It's a hypothetical thing you know!"

"Oh, I know. I just don't care."

"Ugh! Look, what do you want?!"

"I should be asking YOU that, you ninny! You called me here, what's up?!"

"Uh… I needed to ask you something."

"Oh, like what are my pronouns? Why, that's so thoughtful, Charmy! More bees need to be like you and-"

"Yeah yeah, trans rights and all that, no, that's not it! What's this… precious of yours?"

"That's… that's it?"

"Uh… yeah?"

"Charmy… I'm gonna be real nice with ya and I want you to do something. Look at the clock."

I turned to the clock hanging above the entrance to the main part of the first floor.

"What does it read?" he asked.

"…3 am?"

"That's correct," I turned to face Egg Robo. "And… you mean to tell me… you dragged me out here so late… JUST to ask about that?!"

I kept my mouth shut.

"Are you FRIGGIN' KIDDIN' ME?! Don't boys your age have no concept of going to bed?! Or for that matter, asking the STUPIDEST questions only to frustrate their instructors?! Is that what you lot like doing or what? Abusing poor ol' Egg Robo?!"

I continued to keep my mouth shut.

"Oh, I see how it is. Thinking that keeping your mouth shut will make you be all innocent and stuff! Well, I see you! I REALLY SEE YOU, KID! Ugh, fine! If it'll make you go back to bed, then I'll tell you! It was a key and **[CENSORED FOR STORY PURPOSES]**!"

"Wait a minute, what do you mean censored for story purposes?"

"I ain't gonna tell you! You figure it out yourself!" Egg Robo went onto grumble. "Lousy stinkin' kids, no concept of bed time and no concept of bein' respectful to other's sleepin' habits over something so stupid! One of these days, I outta make you become a blackened so I can do surgery on you and see what kinda brain you have! Maybe then we can fix that little attitude problem of yours!"

Egg Robo waddled off, continuing to curse me out as I watched from afar.

"For Gaia's sake, Vector, I hope that gave you enough time and that you're okay," I said to myself. No, he'll be fine. It's Vector, after all.

Shaking my head, I returned to my dorm and got in bed, a little worried that the crocodile would get caught. At least, only my anxiety wanted to tell me that, as my sleep overpowered it.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Despair Hill Zone has been brought to you by TheHunterPersian."_

* * *

 _A seamless landscape blew up in the light of the sun as the red sky loomed ahead. The calm breeze blew the grass and trees throughout the land as various woodland creatures and Chao roamed about._

 _That was, until a sudden earthquake began to shake the land. The woodland creatures dropped to the ground, covering their heads as a shadow slowly flew above them. The creatures looked up to see a massive red ship above them, with the underside of the ship opening and shooting down large dark crystals onto the ground. The creatures tried to escape, but the once sudden luscious and colorful land turned a disgusting grey color as the creatures turned into stone._

 _From a cliff atop the landscape, someone wearing a red shoe walked into frame, watching the ship turn the landscape into pure chaos._

 _"Oh, Sonic! Aren't you going to save your land?"_

 _Sonic's face appeared in frame, grinning. Behind him were his friends, allies, and even enemies, the only survivors of a chaotic world doomed under Dr. Eggman._

 _"Gimme ten minutes flat. I got this."_

 _Everyone began to run ahead, making their way to the ship. As Dr. Eggman ordered his ship to fire at Sonic and his friends, he pointed at Orbot and Cubot to fire away at the group._

 _"Don't bother, Dr. Eggman," a sudden voice said. "Let me take care of this."_

 _A figure from the darkness emerged, his ghastly hands coming into frame. He began to walk forward and-_

 _The trailer stopped and a message was displayed:_

 ** _WE'RE SORRY._**

 ** _Due to budget cuts at Sonic Team, the next exciting Sonic game, Sonic Adventure 3, has now been cancelled._**

 ** _However, if enough people read Despair Hill Zone, maybe development will start up again?_**

 ** _Ho ho ho!_**

 ** _-Green Hills Zone Store: E3 Branch_**

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Well damn! Guess Sonic Adventure 3 was cancelled, and now the fans have to wait another 20 years for news! But is it true that if more people read Despair Hill Zone, development will start up again? Well, I really wanted to play Sonic Adventure 3, so this is perfect! So reader? Make sure you read through all of Despair Hill Zone! And be sure to share this fanfiction with your friends too!"_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	41. Chapter 6 (Daily Life 2)

**(AN: Merry Christman everyone! Time for some Christmas Eve despair as we get deeper into Chapter 6! This one is a bit shorter this time, but next part will be larger and more action packed! Hope you enjoy your holidays everyone!)**

* * *

 _An unidentified hand opened a plastic tupplewear set, a glass of ice water next to them, and a fork, knife, and spoon sitting atop a napkin. As the hand opened the container for the person to heat up their food, Egg Robo looked up at the person, no food in sight._

 _"It's come to my attention that some of you all prefer when there's murders and a trial," he said. "To that, I say first: You're sadistic. And second, so am I, so I'm in total agreeance with you!"_

 _Egg Robo lay on the sand, hand on his head. "I'm sure you probably think of my playhouse as nothing more than an appetizer. Something very small and minor which has no significance. But what happened when that appetizer is better than your main course? Think of me as a sauce you add to something like a meat. Yeah, I can be insignificant, just sitting on a plate with no purpose, but think of me as a sauce that adds to the flavor. I'm a sauce where no meal of hope, friendship, or youth is complete without my presence that adds to that tang of despair that lingers in your mouth and keeps you talking about it for months."_

 _He bowed in front of a black background. "Please, come with me and enjoy dinner. It's on the house, and you have no choice anyway."_

* * *

I shivered as I held my blankets up to my arms, hearing Egg Robo's morning announcement. No, I wasn't scared or anything, far from it. Instead, my throat felt scratchy and I had a hard time swallowing. Back home, my parents said I had a bit of a snoring problem, and usually, my throat would be dry and scratchy, almost as if I were sick, for the first hour of me being up but I'd feel better once the day went on.

This, however? This wasn't such an occasion. I felt sick.

I tried to breathe in but found that one side of my nose was clogged up.

"Ugh, I hate it when that happens…" I said to myself, getting up from my bed and trying to swallow, only to make a face as I grabbed my throat.

"Nothing…" I said, coughing a little bit. Come on, I was NOT getting sick in a place like this. What kind of germs would even be here?

Oh right, Egg Robo. That's who.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents…**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 6:**

 **A Painful Dash, A Painful Spiked Wall, A Painful Life Loss**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 2**

As I left to head to the dining hall, I couldn't get over how terrible the pain was when I swallowed. This was always the worst part of getting sick. That, and the eventual fatigue you get combined with that feeling like you're not getting any better.

Things didn't turn around when I arrived in the dining hall, where I promptly buzzed in and put my head on the table.

"Good morning, Charmy!" Tikal said, happy until she noticed me. "Oh, Charmy you don't look okay! Is everything alright?"

"I'm not feeling so hot…" I said.

"So that's why you're late," Wave said. "Regardless, A. that's not an excuse. And B… don't get your sickness on me."

"Uh oh! You better get some medicine quick, Charmy! There's nothing I hate more than getting sick!" Amy said.

"I'll try to remember that…" I said.

"Maybe you should rest first," Tikal said, but I shook my head.

"No no, it's fine. I should be out searching with your guys, not cooped up in my room all day."

"Charmy, for all intents and purposes, I really think you should stay in bed today."

"I already did that yesterday, Tikal…"

She sighed. "Very well, but at least let me take care of you a little bit. I know plenty of homemade remedies that should help you get back to tip top shape. In fact, wait right here."

Tikal got up from her seat and ran towards the kitchen. About a few minutes later, she came back with a glass of lemon water.

"Lemon water?" I asked.

"No no, this is warm lime and saltwater! Be sure to gargle it when you can!"

"It'll work?"

"Of course it will! It takes out all the bad germs in your body that way! You'll need to do it multiple times per day and until you're not sick anymore for it to work."

"Oh… okay… thanks…"

"I wanna prepare you a breakfast too, but before that…" she placed the glass in front of me. "Where's Vector? I haven't seen him all day."

"Yeah, I wonder where he is? It's not like him being late!" Silver added. "It's like being late for your graduation or something!"

"Maybe he's mad about yesterday?"

I looked to Wave, who turned her head away from me. She might have thought I blamed her for Vector not being here, but… I knew why he wasn't here. I just couldn't tell anyone.

"Well, whatever the reason, I would like to know. Vector doesn't seem like he'd be the indoors-y type," Wave said.

"Right, you have his key, don't you?" Silver asked. Before the swallow girl could pull it out of her pocket, Egg Robo suddenly popped up in front of her. I could watch her reel back in surprise.

"Are you all looking for Vector?" he asked.

"How did you know?!" the silver hedgehog said.

"I'm right, aren't I? You really wanna know where Vector is?"

"Well, DO you know where he is?"

"It's a bit hard to say…"

"So, you don't know?"

"He probably doesn't and just wants to prod us for information, dorkfest," Wave crossed her arms.

"Hey, don't you hate it whenever you're watching a video online and you suddenly come across something in a language you don't understand? Can you imagine what the video would sound like?" the robot said, changing the subject.

"He just changed subjects like that!" Amy said.

Him changing the subject was just what I needed for this awful morning. This made me realize that Egg Robo hadn't realized what Vector and I had planned last night. I thought back to what Vector said about the mastermind not being able to look at the cameras and control Egg Robo at the same time. Was that true?

"Anyway, you guys can't find Mr. Vector, no? Any idea where he could have gone?"

"I couldn't tell you," Wave said.

"Besides!" Tikal said, teeth gritted. "It's not like we'd tell you where he was!"

"Hm… I see…" the robot said. "Well, no use dwelling on it. Wherever he is, he's probably being annoying as all hell and not worth my time! Anyway, just go about your day as usual! And Charmy? Get better, will you? I need someone to annoy!"

Egg Robo vanished as I put my head back on the table. "Ugh, I wanna die…" I mumbled.

Tikal sighed. "So not even Egg Robo knows where Vector is."

"Where the heck is he?" Silver asked.

"Don't you think we should all go out and look for him?"

"Yeah, Tikal's right! Who knows where he is?" added Amy.

"Look, I get you're all concerned, but if not even Egg Robo knows where he is, how do you expect us to find him?" Wave asked. I looked up to see the others glancing around at each other.

How was it possible though? How could Vector be in a part of the zone that not even Egg Robo could find him? And where exactly could that be?...

Regardless, when I started coughing, Tikal looked at me.

"Go on Charmy, take your water…"

"Alright, alright…" I said, grabbing the glass and buzzing over to the sink in the kitchen, gargling the water and trying my best not to swallow it. I mean, warm salt lime water? Delicious, no?

I felt a bit weird after that, not so much more snotty, but my throat felt a little odd. I guess since I'm not used to it, I imagine it would feel a little different. When I finished up gargling and returned to the dining hall, I could see everyone getting up.

"Where are you all off to?" I asked.

"We're out exploring, bee," Wave replied.

"Wait, hold on-"

"Oh no, no no no no!" Tikal said, shaking her head. "You're sick, mister, and you should be resting."

"B-But!"

"No buts! Go back to your room and I'll give you some breakfast."

"Geez, when did you get so motherly?" Silver asked.

"I care about when my friends are ill, Silver. Do you?"

"Uh…"

"Case in point."

"We'll be fine without Charmy, right?" Amy asked.

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Wave replied. The others walked off as Tikal headed into the kitchen, leaving myself to brood back on to my room.

"This sucks…" I said, buzzing back into bed and pulling the sheets up to me. "I should be out there looking for Vector, not stuck in here not doing anything…"

After tossing in turning in my bed for about twenty minutes, not able to get back to bed, I could see my door open from where I was. Tikal walked in carrying a tray of various foods, causing me to raise my body up. She placed the tray right on top of where my legs were.

"Tikal, you didn't need to do that…" I said.

"Don't worry about it, Charmy! It's fine!" she replied. "Okay, so from what I remember grandma telling me… I prepared you the best and healthiest meals for when you're sick. First, we have a bowl of oatmeal with sliced bananas, then a cup of applesauce, some whole wheat toast with no butter, and some saltine crackers. Finally, to wash it all down, there's some peppermint tea with honey."

"Okay, now I REALLY need to tell you again that you really didn't need to do this. This is just… it's way too much!"

"Don't be silly, you need to get better! Besides, it's not like I'd be of much help for the investigation."

"You wanna stay here all day? I don't want you to get sick."

"I guess you're not wrong. With us not knowing what kind of bacteria could be around, heaven knows if its airborne or not. Here, tell you what, I'll go leave to do the investigation, but later I'll come back and serve you lunch."

"Tikal…" I whined, but she drowned me out.

"No buts. What did I say?"

"Fine…"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off. Don't get out of bed, and uh… Charmy?"

"Yeah?" I asked, reaching for the crackers.

"…when I come back with lunch, tell me how the breakfast was, okay? I've… never really done anything like that for a boy."

"Oh sure, no problem."

Tikal walked away with a smile as I got started with my breakfast. After digging into the crackers right away, I grabbed the spoon on the tray and began to eat the oatmeal. I'm not the world's… pickiest eater, especially nowadays, because I used to be a big one as a kid, but oatmeal was kind of an always 'eh' dish to me. Usually, when my dad prepared it, it was bland, but mom knew how to add other things like berries or cinnamon to it to make it taste better.

This however? This was on a completely new level. This was… delicious! I never tasted anything like this but… man, now I want this to be the oatmeal I get served from here on out. Even the rest of my breakfast was great, and the tea tasted delicious. As I sighed, getting into bed and feeling my body flow with warmth from the tea, I doubt I was gonna get better but… hey, it's not like I'd be cured in one day.

* * *

 **LATER**

I was interrupted by someone knocking on my door. I wasn't having a dream of any kind, but it was just annoying being interrupted from precious sleep time. My attitude changed however, when I saw Tikal walking into my room, holding another tray. She pulled up a chair next to my bed and set my breakfast tray down onto the floor and placed the lunch tray on my nightstand.

"Well? How did you like the breakfast?" she asked.

"It was great," I smiled. "I loved it. What's for lunch?"

"Well, I prepared you a big bowl of chicken noodle soup and some ginger ale."

"Oh man, my favorite."

"Really? It's your favorite meal?"

"Nah, it's honey, but I always love having this when I'm sick. Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome," she smiled as I grabbed the tray and placed it on my lap.

"How did the investigation go?"

"Not so well. Wave's been up on the roof all day trying to figure out if there's some way to get out based on the fact that we're on a roof but she worried that she'll crash through something."

"Yeah, that does sound awful if it happened. What about you?"

"I've been looking through the first and second floors but… nothing. It's such a shame… if only Ditz was with us, or… or Vector…"

I grabbed my spoon and began to eat some of the noodles from the bowl. "Yeah, I've been conflicting on that all day. Oh man, not to change the subject, but this is delicious. Is this homemade?"

"Of course. When Grandma was sick, I learned to make my own homemade chicken noodle soup to help her get better since no one was doing anything for her. She really appreciated it a lot, and I even make it for… for father too…"

She grew uncomfortably silent when she mentioned him.

"Hey, Tikal? Last time we had a talk like this, you said your dad was kind of… well, kind of a dick. Did you still wanna talk about that, or nah?"

She looked at me and turned her head away. "You know.,. maybe I can talk about it, just a little…"

I looked at the echidna, knowing that if I already felt like I hadn't gotten closer to her before, I was getting closer now.

"Did he ever… hit you?"

"No just he was… very, verbally abusive…"

"How bad was it?"

"Very bad… I don't want to get into the specifics, but let's just say, having him confront you after going to a rally with grandma was horrifying at five years old. Heck, he wasn't even sad when grandma died."

"He WHAT?!"

"Yeah, can you believe it? He simply saw grandma as nothing more than an indoctrination machine, and he felt like it worked on me. He saw gran in me and took it out on me. I'd come home from school, bullied all day by my peers, only to come home to him berating me for setting up my next protest. 'You can never go anywhere in life being a special snowflake' was his favorite thing to say to me, and he'd often destroy signs I'd make. He wanted me to drop my ideals of pacifism, become nihilistic, and think that echidnas are a superior species over others, and that our ancestors were wrong for leaving Angel Island and how echidnas should have their own homeland."

"That's awful. Do you still live with him?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm trying to move out soon, but over the years, I've become much more numb to what he says. It still makes me sad knowing that our family has been torn not only since mother died, but also since gran died too. I think he does that because of grief but-"

"You shouldn't excuse him regardless."

"I know… I just… I wish he'd realize the error of his ways."

"People like that, they can't change their mind. They think that their way of thinking is right, and they choose to believe whatever 'facts' they hear, either from their mind or what they hear from others, no matter how many people debunk it. I mean, who even disagrees with pacifism?"

"Many people."

"Huh?"

"My father is one person, but the amount of online abuse I've suffered is beyond unreal. I've suffered things such as name calling, leaking of my personal information, to even… death and rape threats."

"Over pacifism?!"

"I thought people like my father were only one person but… as it turns out, many people think like him too."

"And you don't get scared because of that?"

"People who do stuff such as that are weak. They want to present an image of being tough to others, but they shake in the face of others who stand up for basic rights and need some way to show displeasure."

"That's incredible…"

"I don't know if I mentioned this before, but… my biggest dream for this world is that we can live in a paradise where we all treat each other with respect, where we can co-exist with nature and care for our environment, and make sure that no man, woman, or child goes hungry or lacks something as basic as a warm, soft bed to sleep on."

"I think you can reach that dream."

"You do?"

"Of course. After all, you're the Ultimate Pacifist. You can reach there."

"It's true… but it'll take more than words to convince people."

"How so?"

"That's why I'm practicing becoming a maiden. Perhaps… perhaps once I master that, I can finally learn the answer to that question."

I smiled. "No wonder. I always didn't know why you'd wanna become one but, I guess I know now," Turning back to my soup, I took a bite out of it only to make a face.

"Is there something wrong?"

"My soup… it's cold."

Tikal began to giggle. "Oops! I guess we got a little too carried away with talking, didn't we? Hold on, lemme take this back to the kitchen and I'll get this warm for you, okay?"

"Okay, _mom_."

"Oh, cut that out! I'm not ready to be a mom yet!"

I smiled as I watched Tikal leave the room.

* * *

 **LATER**

After my lunch and spending some more time in bed, some cough syrup and cough drops on my nightstand, I still wasn't feeling much better, but I guess it was to be expected. Getting up from bed, while knowing I wasn't the hottest, I decided I'd get something to eat before I'd sleep in early tonight. On my way to the dining hall, I encountered…

"Oh, you," Wave said when I stepped out of my door and into the hallway.

"Wave," I said.

"Yes, it's me. What do you want?"

"I was just on my way to get something to eat. Di-" I began to cough as Wave took a few steps back.

"Don't get me sick now."

"Sorry. Did you eat?"

"Of course I did. Pacifist girl told me that she's been taking care of you. How are you feeling?"

"Still not the same? I guess?"

"Well then you need to start getting better now. The sooner you get better, the sooner we can continue the investigation, for as much as I don't want to admit it, you're a valuable resource."

"Huh, look at you complimenting me. That's a rare sight.

"It's almost LIKE you want me to hit you across the head or something."

"Do it when I'm feeling better."

"Fine."

We both looked at each other for a bit before I smiled.

"Did… did you wanna join me as I get something to eat? I'm sure you probably wanna discuss anything you wanted to find, right?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, bee. We haven't found much but, I guess I might as well bask in your presence. Not like I have much to do besides that anyway."

And so, Wave joined me as I decided to have just a cup of yogurt for my dinner. She even noted how it was a bit odd, as dairy probably wouldn't be the best for me, but I blew her off. Besides, tomorrow I should have some more soup, that and just, I really like yogurt.

As we sat in the dining hall, unwrapping my yogurt cup, I looked at the swallow.

"You know, you don't seem to talk about your history," I said.

"I already revealed to you I like parfaits. What else do you want to know? What shampoo I use to shower with every morning?"

'No… thank you. No, I mean like… how did you find out about your heritage? And how did you get your love of mechanics?"

Wave slouched in her seat. "I mean, it's nothing really too special. When I was a kid, my parents noticed that the minute I could start holding things on my own, I really liked the toy building set my father bought me. He was also a mechanic too, and he thought that having a daughter who'd be into mechanics would be impossible. Assuming that I'd be into stereotypical girl things, he told my mom he was beyond ecstatic when he saw me with that. And then growing up, he'd make me miniature things for me to build. I'd say it helped me not only get started with my roots in mechanics, but also helped me develop skills such as patience and perfection."

"Did he know you all were Babylonians?"

"Actually, no. Apparently, that was actually hidden from my parents' life for as long as they lived, until a man named Tempest came to our door one day to reveal the truth of their lineage. And when he saw me, he realized I was the next in line to lead his group: the Babylon Rogues. At first, my dad didn't want me to get involved in that. He heard about them in passing but only knew them to be thieves. But I… I grew curious."

"How so?"

"…defying what my parents wanted, I'd sneak out at night once I learned about Extreme Gear to practice using them. I began to think about the Babylon Garden not just in my thoughts but in my dreams. Was that the place where we all should have been? Should I be there living my life with mom and dad? I know they didn't want that, but I did. I wanted to see that garden, and I wanted to ride. And when I began to regularly sneak out, guess who I met at an Extreme Gear park?"

"…Jet?"

"…when he saw my skills, he said he knew why his dad wanted me. With a mechanic and someone in charge with creating Extreme Gear, Tempest felt his son would lead the Babylon Rogues into a new age: the age of the Babylon Garden. But we still weren't complete, we needed a right-hand man who was loyal, and Jet said that his father might have found a match, in a small travelling circus currently touring in Soleanna."

"That was Storm, right?"

'You guessed it."

"Did your dad ever find out?"

"He did."

"And what did he do?"

"He wasn't pleased but… I promised that I wasn't doing any kind of thieving, and when I brought home part of my prize money for them, they thought that the group was fine, as long as I wasn't doing anything illegal."

"And you were, right?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Hey, Jet dodged the question when I asked him."

"Let's just say, myself, Jet, and Storm probably have our faces somewhere in a police station's gun range."

My eyes grew wide. Not even into your 20's and you're a wanted criminal… Is Ultimate Crook a title or something?

"Anyway, I've devoted enough of my time to you. Eat your little yogurt and get to bed, I better see you better by tomorrow," Wave said, getting up and leaving the dining hall. I mean, that's not how illness' work, but… okay.

* * *

When I returned to my room, I was suddenly overcome with a feeling of nausea. As I heeled over, holding my stomach, my nausea was paired with chills, dizziness, and I even felt a little faint.

"Ugh… I need to get to bed now… I feel so awful…" I said, buzzing over to check the time. "Good, it's not night time yet."

Going into my bathroom, I grabbed some toilet paper and turned on the sink, getting it wet as I placed it on my forehead, using it as a makeshift rag. I got in bed as quickly as I could as the lights became dim, pulling the covers to my neck. I could feel my throat in pain as I coughed multiple times, my body incredible sweaty. Never have I experienced an illness like this before… I took my jacket and helmet off, but it really didn't help. I tried to fall asleep, but I'd end up coughing or I'd swallow only to be hit with that usual pain.

Eventually however, I was able to finally go to bed, only…

I dreamt.

* * *

I began to dream about a black room with nothing in it.

 _"I…"_

I wonder who said that?

 _"I under…"_

?

 _"I understand…"_

Huh?

Is that… me?

I was staring at myself. My mirror image began to melt into a puddle until I was staring at an image of myself through the transparent look of water.

 _"I understand everything now,"_ my doppelgänger said. _"My goal was never to leave here. It was to stay for the rest of my life."_

What? What was I saying?

 _"Hope… I do this for hope. I do this to be a hero… I do this, to inspire hope onto others. That's what being a hero is all about, is it not? Inspiring others to do good?"_

I shook my head, only for my mirror image to vanish as… shapes, overcame everything. I… I didn't even know how to describe them at this point. They were just… shapes… shapes of all different sizes, with no colors to set them apart, began to overcrowd me. I didn't know what this meant…

* * *

And when I woke up, I still felt just as ill and just as lost as I was when I was sleeping. I slowly opened my eyes, coughing intensely as I swore I saw something in the shadows of my room.

…

Wait a minute…

Saw?

I looked up and opened my eyes wider as I saw… someone, in a white lab coat wearing some kind of cracked diamond shaped mask standing over me. When they saw that I noticed them…

…they brought out a knife.

My eyes widened. Fuck…! Did I forget to lock my door?! WAS I GOING TO DIE HERE?! I tried to scream, but it just came out as nothing more than a weak gasp and a major amount of coughing. As the masked individual brought down their knife, they were suddenly stopped by a large hand grabbing their arm. My vision faded in and out, but I could make out someone in the darkness using their other hand to slam the masked individual to the ground. I could feel the knife fall closely next to me as there was a clear struggle going on in my room. Soon, I heard footsteps leaving my room as I tried to scream again. What happened? Was that person going to grab the knife and kill me right here and now?

My fears were confirmed when I saw a white glove grab the knife next to me. I tried to run, but I was paralyzed with fear. I tried to make out who that person was who stopped the masked person, but all I saw was… green.

It was only when I squinted my eyes harder that I saw it was… Vector, standing above my bed and looking down on me.

"V-Vector?..." I whispered, as not to ruin my voice. He simply continued to stand over me, knife in hand. He simply walked over to my nightstand and placed the knife in it again. I tried to call out his name, but… nothing. No response, and no mentions as to what happened.

And soon enough, no sounds came from me as I finally gave into exhaustion.

* * *

 _Ladies and Gentleman, it's now time for..._

 ** _THE EGG ROBO PLAYHOUSE!_**

 _Egg Robo stood in the middle of a stage, a light shining on him as he bobbed his head back and forth._

 _"Do you happen to remember that quote from Sonic Adventure 2? The one that goes, **'What you see is what you get! I'm a guy with a love of adventure and a need for speed!'**? The reason I bring that up is because when you think about it, what would life be without adventure and speed? Would it be a life worth living? Or would it be a life where you look at everything and think, well, guess I'll die! It sounds certainly exciting when you think of it like that, but if you're always adventuring, that means you're always going fast, and if you're going fast, you don't have the time to realize what's most important to you: that bowl of rice you left home that's currently burning."_

 _The light turned off, and the curtains closed._


	42. Chapter 6 (Daily Life 3)

**(AN: My god, it's been so long.**

 **So hi, I know its been some time since the last update. Lemme just say, getting the motivation to do hobbies when you have Christmas, New Years, and constant errands to do is HARD. So hard that writing this took this long. Yeah, I felt THAT demotivated.**

 **But no more! I made sure I'll finish this story, and by golly, will we do it! Even if I walk through hell and back, I will!**

 **Anyway, I gotta head to work now so I have to run. Enjoy the new part!)**

* * *

 _A panel of Egg Robos wearing different clothes sat around in a TV station, a huge billboard behind them reading: "CRIMES CAUSED BY YOUTH: Time to pin our blame on things that have nothing to do with it!". As one of the Egg Robos munched on a peach, the one wearing glasses cleared his throat._

 _"Yeah, sure we know that you hope reading fanfiction turns you into someone participating in online discourse, thus further perpetuating the idea that people who consume fandom and have no other personality besides that are devils. And… you'd be right about that!"_

 _"What else does fanfiction turn you into?" another Egg Robo asked._

 _"Turns you into someone without critical thinking, naturally!"_

 _"How are you certain of that?"_

 _"I don't know! Hey kids, don't you want people to think you're a major badass because you read saucy stories and you aren't even old enough to be looking at stuff like that? Even though you're a spineless coward?"_

 _"Exactly sums up this entitled generation," another Egg Robo grumbled._

 _"My thoughts exactly. The fact of the matter is… I ain't interested in your despair unless it's real."_

* * *

When I found myself waking up that morning to Egg Robo's message… I…

I felt fine.

I could swallow normally without pain, my neck didn't feel scratchy or inflamed, I didn't have a sore throat nor did I have the need to cough, and I wasn't sweaty at all.

Was… was I suddenly cured of my sickness? I mean, surely it COULDN'T happen overnight, could it? Who's even heard of something like that?

"Oh right, I forgot where I am," I said, rolling my eyes. I wanted to get up from bed but the pain I was in last night from my cold just got me too comfortable. Not to mention…

…that dream.

What was that dream that I had? Why was I talking about not wanting to leave? Who was that masked man? Was he about to kill me?

And… why did Vector… save me?

So many questions flew by my head, but I knew there was only one way I'd get an answer.

I got out of bed and recalled how Vector placed the knife in my nightstand drawer in my dream. Grabbing the handle, I opened it up and…

Froze.

For the knife that Vector placed in there was gone.

"It… it wasn't a dream…" I said to myself. "What… what the hell is going on anymore?!"

There was only one way I'd find an answer, and it was waiting for me in the dining hall.

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents…**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 6:**

 **A Painful Dash, A Painful Spiked Wall, A Painful Life Loss**

* * *

 **DAILY LIFE 3**

Neglecting to take a bath, I buzzed on out of my room and to the dining hall. But when I arrived, I saw that there was no one in the dining hall.

"Hello?" I called out.

"In here!" a girl's voice called from the kitchen. I turned my head to the kitchen, seeing some smoke come from it. I'll be honest, I was a bit nervous to enter. I mean, what would you do if you were in my shoes? Follow the strange voice enticing you to come into a kitchen by yourself with plenty of knives?

I wasn't gonna play dumb, so I knew I had to fight back.

"And why would I come in?!" I yelled.

"Because you know me, Charmy!" the voice replied, which I could make out to be Tikal.

"Oh yeah? How do I know you're Tikal? Maybe I'll just grab the knife Amy gave me as PROOF!"

Tikal yelped as I rushed in, seeing the echidna girl with her hands over her mouth.

"Oh, it is you," I said before I had a cup full of water thrown at my face.

"Charmy Bee you as… I mean, you butthead!" she yelled. "How dare you scare me like that! SECOND TIME YOU KNOW!"

"Jeez, sorry. I've been on edge since this morning."

"And what, you extend it to me?!"

"No no! I… hey, that's not the point! Where's everyone?"

"More like I should be asking you what you're doing out of bed, mister?!

"Huh?"

"You heard me! You're still sick!"

"I… I'm not."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sick anymore! That's what!"

"Am I supposed to believe that? Hold on, wait there. I was just about to make you your breakfast."

Tikal rushed over to one of the counters as I looked to the side to see trays filled with cereal, milk, fruit, yogurt, toast, and eggs.

"What's all this for?"

The echidna ignored me as she walked over to me, thermometer in hand. "Open your mouth."

"I'm fine, really!"

"Open it!"

I groaned and did as I was told. I waited for Tikal to realize I was telling the truth, and sure enough, I got the money shot when she read the thermometer. "Huh? 98.9?... But, you were sick last night?..."

"I dunno either. Maybe the stuff you gave me was that good?"

"Perhaps. They're nothing like what grandma had, but I used a lot of her recipes and remedies from what I remember."

"That's besides the point, Tikal, where's everyone?"

"They died and now you have to have my children."

My mouth was agape in horror.

"Relax, I'm joking! See? I'm starting to develop a sarcastic sense of humor!"

"I can tell…"

"Before, people would complain that I'm PC and all that, well now I'm PC AND sarcastic, so guess who's getting the last laugh!"

"Tikal, we're getting carried away."

"Right right, everyone. Basically, since last night, we've been trying to get in contact with you because something… big happened."

"Big?"

"It's too much for me to explain here, it would be easier just show you instead. Here, let's meet up with everyone else."

"Where is everyone?"

"In the gym. We stayed up all night so-"

"All night?!"

"Yeah, I lost at tactical tic tac toe so now I'm here serving breakfast for the rest."

"Tactical tic tac toe?"

"Apparently, Silver knows 46, 575 ways to play tic tac toe."

"I… you know what, that's not out of character for him."

"Anyway, lemme finish up some oatmeal and let's take this to the gym."

"Why the gym?"

I was ignored as Tikal turned around to focus on her pot of oatmeal. Once it was done, Tikal pushed a cart filled with trays while I was stuck carrying some of them in both hands. When we arrived to the gym, I had to place one of my trays down in order for Tikal to go through the door. Feeling my muscles being pulled like hell, the girl smiled as she went through the door. I sighed and went inside.

"Okay everyone, time to eat!" Tikal said. "I made us a lot of things this morning!"

I could see Wave, Silver, and Amy crowded around something as they got up to look at us. Of the three, the only notable person being absent was Vector. I also took notice of the screwdriver in Wave's hand and a toolkit by her feet.

"Well, look what the cat dragged in and pissed all over. I thought they wrote you out of this story, Charmy," Wave said.

"It's like being late to every important thing in your life! Birthdays, weddings, graduations, bar mitzvahs…" Silver added.

"You got to sleep on a nice comfy bed while I was relegated to the gym floor!" Amy angrily said. "The gym floor! I haven't been this humiliated since that one crappy mall hair salon gave me a bowl cut as a sorry excuse for a haircut!"

"Geez, sorry, I was sick. You knew that, Wave," I said.

"Yes but as you know, I tend to… forget such pivotal information," she replied.

"Or you're doing this to fuck with me. Anyway, that's besides the point. What's going on? You said there was something going on at the gym that-"

I stopped myself. The others looked at me and turned to what I was pointing at.

"Wha-wha-wha…" I said, in disbelief.

Egg Robo lay dismantled on the floor, his head and limbs detatched from the main shell of his body and only connected via wires as one of his eyes was popped off, revealing the circuitry inside the robot. Internal components lay across the floor as Wave's toolkit was open.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAAAAAAAT?!" I yelled.

"Oh, that?" Wave kicked Egg Robo. "I'm doing a little fine tuning."

"And you're okay with that?! That's Egg Robo!"

"It's not dangerous. I don't know what to tell you."

"Are you out of your mind?! How can you all tear apart Egg Robo and not expect him to do anything about this?!"

"Because I found him like this."

"Huh?"

"Let me explain. Just before bed last night, I wanted to talk to Egg Robo about something. Imagine my shock when I find is just a hollow husk of our little mastermind. He wasn't reacting, he didn't say any words, even when I brought up Vector, he still said nothing. So, I've spent all this time working on him," Wave grabbed herself a plate of breakfast and sat back down to where Egg Robo was. "See right here?" she held up some bolts. "These were a bitch to get out. No screwdriver I had could fit whatever these were, so I had to work with pliers. But look at this here… Snivel 480i microprocessor, over one terabyte of RAM, Stardust 5600x CPU, Tryhex speakers and voice modulator… so many different parts and components that make up Egg Robo, but one thing's for sure: these are probably some of the best parts you can buy for anything that runs on motherboards. Computers, machinery, etc."

"I'm gonna… pretend I understood all the words you used!" Silver said, biting into his toast. "But still, it's impressive no?" the hedgehog lifted up the husk of Egg Robo. "It's like he's a toy and not a robot!"

"Still, was he like this the whole time?" I asked.

"Of course," Wave replied. "I came back later that night, still motionless. That's when I called the others and decided our next course of action is to investigate why exactly Egg Robo has been in this state. All I needed was my toolkit and I'm set. Still though… everything about Egg Robo is a genius in technological and mechanical design. Who designed him, I wonder?"

"Why do you think he malfunctioned?"

Wave took a bite from her orange. "I'll be honest, your guess is as good as mine. I thought something went wrong with one of his parts, but they all look fine from a physical level. Maybe it's something internal that we can't check?"

"Then if he didn't break down…"

"…something happened to the mastermind, I bet!" Amy said. "Maybe they got sick or something!"

"No! Egg Robo made his daily announcement!"

"Haven't you realized yet that the message is pre-recorded?" Wave asked.

"H-Huh?"

"Oh goodness, you HAVEN'T realized it, have you? Egg Robo's morning and night messaged are all pre-recorded and played on a timer. Surely you don't think he has the time to look the same in every shot without anything in the background looking the same every day, no?"

"I… yeah, I never really considered that."

"Hey guys?" Silver said, putting his plate down on the floor. "I know we're in the middle of talking but…" the white hedgehog crouched down, grabbing a black ball and placing it in between us. "What is this?"

My eyes widened. "I-It's!"

"A bomb, naturally," Wave said cooly. The rest of us, sans Wave, all panicked.

"WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUUUUCK!" Silver yelled.

"We need to get rid of it now!" Tikal added.

"Quick, I'll throw it! Give it to me!" Amy said. "I have a good throwing arm!"

"It's a motion sensor bomb," Wave smirked. "One sudden movement and we all blow up."

Amy screamed as she pulled her hair.

"Get it together! You're part serial killer, y'know!" Silver said.

"You're not helping at all! Jeez, I dunno why Rosie likes you so much! You're nothing like my Darling Sonic!"

"I take that as a compliment! I wouldn't wanna be like him!"

"Look, can we all stop arguing and get this out of here?!" Tikal said.

"I can't do it! I'm too scared!"

"Oh,, I'll do it then! I've always wanted to get rid of the world's bombs!-"

Just as Tikal was about to reach for the bomb, Amy screamed out, "SUDDEN MOVEMENT! SUDDEN MOVEMENT, TIKAL!"

"Guys, you should-" I tried to say before Wave stopped all of us.

"Okay, this has stopped being amusing," she said. "I should mention that the sensor was turned off."

The other three looked at her. "It… was?" asked Silver.

"I did it to be precise."

Silver sighed with relief. "Whew! I was about to get seven consecutive heart attacks!"

"Jeez, you're so spineless… really nothing like Sonic…" Amy grumbled. "He would put himself in danger no matter what."

"What should we do with the bomb then?" Tikal asked. Silver grabbed it but quickly dropped it as it turned out to be too heavy for him.

"I dunno! Throw it out? But I can't lift this! Man, makes you wish Vector was here. Or… someone like Knuckles or Storm. They could lift it!"

I could see a distant look in Wave's eyes as I turned from the bomb to Egg Robo's remains. He stopped moving and he was broken? What could have happened? If not even Espio could damage Egg Robo… how would he get damaged like this?

It was then that I thought back to that masked person who brought out a knife in front of me last night. Did they have something to do with it? And if so… how could they have gotten close to Egg Robo to destroy him?

"Charmy…"

It makes no sense when you put it like that. Egg Robo would have had to seen the masked figure through the security cameras around the zone. There's no way you would ignore that…

"Charmy!"

I mean… what could this all point to? Could there be a force even bigger than Egg Robo? Was there… someone who controls him? Now that I think about it… the idea that there could be someone controlling Egg Robo doesn't seem too out there. Now that I think about it, not even Espio knew who the true mastermind was-

"CHARMY!"

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when I turned to face Amy, who was yelling at me.

"Jeez, what was that for?" I asked.

"Weren't you listening to any of us?" she asked.

"Huh?'

"Oh for Gaia's sake, he wasn't," Wave rolled her eyes. "Tell me bee, do you need hearing aids now? With all these extra parts, maybe I can make some for you so that your stupid self can actually listen for once."

"Get with the point," I snarked back.

"Basically, now that we're done with Egg Robo, what should we do now?" Tikal asked.

"Done? Are you sure we're 'done'?"

"There's nothing else left, bee," the swallow replied. "All night and morning I spent dismantling the thing and I found nothing that can help us. However, since we're done here, we can move onto the next step."

"T-The next step?"

"Breaking into the headmaster's office."

"W-What?!"

"You heard me. Egg Robo is entirely unoperationable. This means that he can't tell where we are or if we're breaking any rules or not. Now is the perfect chance for us to break in and see what he's hiding. Don't you agree?"

"B-But, there's always a chance the mastermind could come back and-"

"If you're too scared, you're welcome to stay here and cower in fear like those Chao in the garden. This is a battle between us and the mastermind. And like any battle, we must achieve any kind of method of victory, even if it means playing dirty."

"Wave has a point. I'm through with all of us killing, so if this means we can get out of here quicker… I'm going with her!" Tikal said.

"So am I! I want the mastermind to get knocked upside the head!" Amy added. "He's gonna pay for everything!"

"Well, bee?" asked Wave. "Make up your mind. Will you fight alongside us, or have the rest of us remember you as a coward?"

I glared at Wave as she asked this, but…

"…fine, I'll come along."

"Good call. Alright everyone, be on guard. From here on out, we're the only ones left in this zone since Vector vanished. We need to be extra careful and alert. Keep your eyes out for anything weird or any sign of Egg Robo. Don't be afraid to yell if you see something. Understand?"

We all nodded.

"Good. Let's go."

Wave started to make her way to the doors as the others stood by. Silver took a deep breath before running off, Amy jumped in place, pepping herself up, and Tikal took out her prayer beads.

"Gods in the heavens, please hear my prayers. Protect us all as we try to escape from this zone of nightmares…" she said, still grasping onto her prayer beads as her and Amy soon left for the doors. I was the last one left. I felt like the world was going to collapse around me. I felt alone… scared… uncertain.

If it wasn't for my friends though…

I would succumb to despair.

Putting on the bravest face I could, I buzzed after the rest, slamming the doors to the main hall wide open.

* * *

Huddling around in one giant circle, the five of us made our way to the fourth floor where the headmaster's office was. The orange and red lights reflected onto our skins, almost like it was signaling the danger we were getting ourselves into. I tried not to think about it as I looked back and forth, trying to see if there was any sign of Egg Robo.

"No sign," I said.

"Good, let's go," Wave said as she trailed into the hall to the headmaster's office. We all stood in front of it as we stared at the door. I went ahead and tried to open it but failed as the doorknob just rattled.

"Damn, locked."

"As expected."

"So, what's the plan now?"

"Isn't it obvious? Rip the door off its hinges. Let's just hope the screws for the door are from the outside and not the inside…"

"W-What do you mean? Don't the rules say-" Amy said before getting cut off.

"The rules mean nothing as long as Egg Robo is out of commission."

"But what if what Charmy said is true? What if the mastermind comes back?" Silver asked.

"Well then, we have to finish this as quickly as possible, don't we, dorkfest? We can't back down now. We all promised to do this, which means that at this point, there's no way we can back down now. Now, follow me everyone, I might have an idea to open the door without destroying it."

Wave crouched to look at the knob, but stopped and raised herself up.

"Damn, guess that's not working."

"What was your plan, Wave?" Tikal asked.

"If the lock was deep in the knob, then there might have been a way to open it up via bobby pin. Unfortunately, this lock seems to be far more different. It definitely requires the key to this room."

"So now what?"

"It seems we have to go into plan C: breaking down the door."

"We're really gonna do that?" I asked.

"Didn't I just say we have to take any opportunity we have? Now, what could be good enough…"

"A chair?"

"I doubt it. If it was made of something other than cheap wood, sure. But all the chairs here feel cheap."

"Hey, what about the pickaxe in the garden?" Silver asked.

"The pickaxe?"

"That's right!" I said. "With that, we can definitely break down the door!"

"I don't see why not. Tell me, who would like to volunteer?"

We all stayed silent, not wanting to go alone.

"Hm, not convinced, eh? Fine then, let me play into your urges. Amy, would it perhaps humor you if I told you that I happen to hold a 67 ring gift card to Honey's Secret?"

The pink hedgehog gasped. "You do?!"

"Now now, don't get too excited. Just get me the pickaxe in two minutes, and it's all yours. I'm sure that it sounds enticing, no?"

"I mean… yeah but…"

"What have you always wanted from there?"

"I… there's this new perfume by Mina Mongoose that supposedly makes guys more attracted to you."

"And how much is it?"

"…55 rings."

"Exactly. And once you have that, you can buy it. Sonic might be dead, but there's plenty of hedgehogs in the sea. Besides, you said it makes guys more attracted to you."

"B-But my darling Sonic is-!"

"Dead, I know. I just said. But wouldn't it be amazing to have men all over you?"

"Y-Yeah… I guess so?"

"And in this entire conversation, you've almost wasted a minute. And just when I was about to throw out my buy two, get one free coupon-"

"OKAY, I'M GOING!"

This was all she needed to get convinced. Amy tried to run as quick as she could but being in go go boots caused her to slow down. Nevertheless, I heard her boots hitting the ground growing fainter and fainter as she ran off to the fifth floor.

"Do you really have all that stuff, Wave?" Silver asked.

"Jet gave me a hundred ring gift card for my birthday last year. All I bought was some undergarments, nothing else. I have no real need for it besides that. Besides, if it means bribing her."

"Couldn't you ask me to do it?"

"Even if you have ESP, you're still too incompetent."

"Ouch. Besides, are you sure you don't wanna back down?"

"Nothing in life is gained by running away. The Babylon Rogues had to learn that in our earliest days. We would be so frustrated after a loss that we all took it personal. But after that, we had to learn we had to be better than the others by constant training."

I thought back to what Vector told me a few nights ago. It was almost like I was hearing from him again…

We must solve the mystery, even despite danger and risks…

"Still though, my hands feel like jelly…"

"Speaking of hands, dorkfest, do me a favor. While we're here, see if you can use your powers to unscrew the hinges. Then we'll see if-"

Wave was suddenly interrupted when Amy rushed in between us. Only…

"…if my darling Shiruba can do more with those powers besides unscrew things?!"

…Rosie. Of course.

"Gah! Rosie, where did YOU come from?!" Silver questioned.

"Hello hello hello! It's your favorite murderer, back with, 'Rosie the Rascal's murder-time extravaganza'! If only I had a TV show to begin with! KYA HA HAAA!"

"Oh forget this, did you get the pickaxe?" Wave questioned.

"Did I pick and axe or axe a pick? How do you even axe a pick anyway? Do you slice a toothpick with an axe? Seems impractical if you ask me!"

"No, you imbecile! The PICKAXE! Did you get it from the garden or no?!"

"She has memory loss, that's what!" Silver exclaimed.

"No, wait!" Tikal said. "Remember, Rosie and Amy don't share the same mind! She wouldn't know that Wave asked Amy to get the pickaxe from the garden!"

"Oh, that's what it was? I'm surprised stinky pinky was competent enough to get such a big weapon. Her weapon of choice is what, putting a brick in her purse? Useless! A hammer is all I need! Well, at least I now know why I needed to go to the garden, which leaves one mystery down! Now time for the next!"

I froze when she said this.

"The… next?" I questioned.

"That's right! I found a mystery object in the garden! Now we're gonna play 'Wheel of Incompetence'! Show how stupid you are by shouting out random phrases while I chastise you about what the answer is!"

"What are you even talking about?..." Silver questioned, shaking his head. "You like… you clearly don't have any idea what you're talking about."

'Of course I do, mi amor! I'm talking about the kurpse!"

"Kurpse?" I asked.

"Now, guess what I could possibly be talking about when I say that! You have three seconds!"

"Hold on, wait a minute-"

"Time's up! The correct answer is… corpse! I found a corpse in the garden!"

I froze. I could see the fear on Wave, Tikal, and Silver's faces as what Rosie said suddenly sunk in.

"N-No! Did she just say?!" Tikal asked, hands over her mouth.

"It can't be…." Wave muttered. "Everyone, garden, NOW."

The swallow ran off as the rest of us followed behind her.

 _"No no no…. this wasn't happening…"_ I thought to myself. What could she mean corpse? Who was it?

And my biggest fear of all….

 _Was it Vector?..._

When we finally reached the garden, we all burst into the scene. I wasn't sure what I expected to see. Maybe a ragdoll or something fake to get us away from the headmaster's office? That would be fine.

But that's not how things worked in this zone.

Because laying in front of us, in the middle of the garden, was the corpse of an unidentified person, a lab coat covering their body as only their bare hands were exposed. A knife was stabbed through their chest as blood seeped through the white coat, spilling onto the floor.

What horrified me more than the sight I saw before me wasn't the gruesome murder…

It was that the victim wore the same mask that the person who attacked me last night wore…

* * *

 **Chapter 6:**

 **A Painful Dash, A Painful Spiked Wall, A Painful Life Loss**

 **DAILY LIFE**

 **D̶̰̭͉̣̜̗͉̭̊̿Aͣ̽̓̓ͯ̚Ī͚̜͈͕͍̞̬ͥͣͅL̳͉̳͎͓̥ͯ̐ͥ͐̈Y̞͙̠ͥ͂̅ͭ̾̎͑̚̕͢ ̸̸̞̼̬͍̣̲ͩ̈͗̏ͣL̸̐͛ͣ̈́̇͏͔͚Į̸͙͎̹͚̮̲̺͍́ͯ́̓ͫ̂F̨̨͉̳̭̼̿̿̍̈́̿ͅE̱̙͍͓̜̓̎̽̅̕**

 **D̠̟͂͐̀̚͟E͖̬̼͙ͥ̒̉A͆ͧ̅ͪͧ͏̠̮͚̭͈͍D̲͓̼̬̣̙̱̮̈͐͟L̴͔̤̗̘͉̘̳̩͛̈́̂̆ͥ̑͒Ỵ͔̩̲̳̋̀ͧͧ̂͋́̃ ̩̜̞͖̤͕͗̓L̛̯̟͇̞̳̉͡I̳̤̱̰͉̦͕̍ͨͬ͝F̸̼͔̹̺̗̟͓̈̃̈́̈́͞E̗̣͎̲̹̰̳ͦͭͣ̾**

 **DEADLY LIFE**


	43. Chapter 6 (Deadly Life)

**(AN: Trying to get back into the school mindset is a bit difficult when you've been out of it since October, but hey, i gotta get this out at some time! Anyway, welcome back to Despair Hill Zone. With last part's discovery, what could this mean? Could the Kiling Zone Life be finally over?**

 **And can I be consistent with putting out chapters?**

 **Time to find out!)**

* * *

 _"What the?..."_

 _"N-No! I thought we said… no more… no more murders!"_

 _"I said that and now I'm gonna lose it for real!"_

 _"If this person is truly dead… I just have one question… who is it?"_

* * *

 **DEADLY LIFE**

* * *

As I stared at the corpse, I needed a quick refresher.

This same masked person, the one who had appeared at my bedside last night with a knife…

And now, they're dead in front of me. I didn't know where to begin. The large bloodstain which bled through their white lab coat, the knife stabbed through their chest, or most pressing of all, I had NO idea who this person was.

"See? See? Told ya there was a body here!" Rosie said. "But… it looks so lonely like that… Why in the heck would you just kill and leave a body like there to rot? It's the most boring way to kill someone. At least display them like they would in the movies!"

"But I thought… I thought this was over… Egg Robo being destroyed and… and…" Tikal couldn't even finish before silently sobbing into her hands.

"All of you need to look NOW," Wave sternly added. "I warn you though… I have a bad feeling about this."

I gulped as I buzzed forward, examining the body. The mask and the coat made it hard to tell who this was from here, so I know I needed to remove it. But… I stopped myself before I could even do it. Wave was right, how could I be certain there was something safe about this? Was this body always here? And most important, was this a trap?

All I could infer was that this person was the same person that attacked me last night. But how did they wind up here? Have they spent this long dead?

Wave walked up next to me, placing her hand on the victim's chest, then checking their pulse through the mask.

"Hm… well, I don't feel a heartbeat, and breathing has definitely stopped," she said. "Yup, all signs of life have vanished. I imagine the knife was the weapon used, but it looks like the bleeding ended. It's still wet though, so try not to stain yourself."

"How can we be sure? I mean, we still dunno who did it?" Silver asked.

Tikal, amid her crying, looked up. "I think…" she sniffed. "I think it's a boy…"

"A boy?"

"Yeah I mean… l-look at him. It's very flat chested, a lot more built than a girl is."

N-No! I had a fear that it was him but, could it be?!-

"Okay then! I heard BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY!" said Rosie. "Time to clean that mask off that cute face and see what kinda boy that is so I can curse the person who killed them because I shouldda been the one who killed them!"

Wave hissed. "Rosie, no!"

Rosie reached out to the mask as the swallow looked at me. "Bee, get back!"

She tackled me to the ground as I watched Rosie take off the mask. Before I could respond, Wave held me tight in her arms as…

There was a loud explosion.

We heard a scream as the explosion made our ears ring and we felt debris hit us. The bright light caused me to be temporarily blind as the aftermath caused audible coughing. I tried to cover my mouth and tried my best not to breathe in, but I soon started to cough violently as I shut my eyes as tight as I could. I could feel Wave loosen her grip on me and soon got up from the floor as she kicked my back.

"Bee, get up NOW!" she said. "It's safe to open your eyes now but get up!"

I opened my eyes and rolled over, only to see the swallow carrying a pail.

"Put out the fire with me, come on, let's go!"

I lifted myself up from the floor as I looked to see the masked person's body on fire. Feeling chills up my spine, I quickly grabbed the pail and rushed over, almost dropping it due to how heavy it was. A quarter of the water had already fallen to the ground by the time I reached the body but once I did, I took dead aim at the fire as Wave and I put it out. I took a deep breath as I got on my knees, sighing.

"That… that was… unbelievable…" I said. The smell of smoke filled the air as I looked behind me to see Tikal and Silver unharmed.

"Is it… over?" the echidna asked.

"What the hell man?!" Silver exclaimed.

"I knew I had a bad feeling but… I wasn't expecting it to explode!" Wave said. "And now the body is completely burnt…"

"It's like a steak you boiled in lava!"

"Silver, don't compare it to that!" Tikal said. "Great, I might not even wanna eat meat again…"

"Guys… we still don't know who that is though," I said. Everyone turned to face me as Wave looked at the body.

"Who isn't here?"

"Huh?"

"Five of us were present at the time of the explosion. Myself, you, Rosie, Tikal, and Silver. Who isn't here?"

I gasped.

"VECTOR!" I yelled, running up to the body.

"But, how can that be Vector?" Silver asked. "That guy doesn't have a crocodile snout…"

I stopped. I never… considered that…

"But who else could it be?"

"…the mastermind," Wave said. All of us were flabbergasted.

"What the hell do you mean the mastermind?!" Silver said.

"And how could he?" Tikal added.

"Yeah! The mastermind wouldn't get charbroiled like this! What, someone just stabbed a knife in them and they just keeled over?!"

"It's hard to think it's likely, sure, but consider this reason why," Wave said. "Earlier, we had found Egg Robo completely destroyed. Without a mastermind, there's no way someone can control him. And even then, how could that explain his destruction? Sure, you could argue that Egg Robo told us himself that there were multiple of himself throughout the zone, but if the mastermind is dead, a new Egg Robo can't just pop up in front of us, can he?"

Now that she mentioned it, she had a point…

"But that doesn't explain what Ditz said!" Silver objected. "Remember? It said that the headmaster is someone who's in their 30s, someone who looks too small to be the mastermind if that's the case! What, is the mastermind NOT the headmaster?"

It was exactly that when it clicked for me. I stared at the corpse, and remembered what Vector told me.

 _"Infinite the Jackal, the 18th student. I had mah suspicions that there was another one of us here, but now I know the truth. They're hidden in the zone walls, the one they call the Ultimate Despair. I have just one word of advice fer ya: Watch out fer him."_

"Is that who Vector was talking about?" I muttered to myself, a little bit TOO loud apparently.

"I'm sorry, what?" Silver questioned. I looked up, realizing what I had said. Well, guess there's no way I'm getting out of this hole, am I?

"Is that person… Infinite the Jackal?"

"Infinite the who?!" Wave questioned. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"Vector told me a few days ago that there's an eighteenth student in this zone."

I saw Wave's face turned from shock to anger as she stepped in front of me. "Bee, tell us everything, _now."_

"W-Well, Vector didn't tell me MUCH, all he told me was that Infinite the Jackal was the eighteenth student and that they were… Ultimate Despair. Even Vector was certain the headmaster wasn't the mastermind either, so… it's not impossible to think that the charred body is actually Infinite."

"Another student and it's a boy too?" Wave turned to look at the body. "Come to think of it, the body looks as tall as one of us."

"And besides, Ultimate Despair sounds like what a mastermind would be called, no?" Tikal asked.

"Wait wait wait, stop," Silver said, shaking his head. "So, let me get this straight: the entire time we've been here, the mastermind, Infinite the Jackal, has been hiding out somewhere. This mastermind, also a student here like us, who hid in this zone like they were the lost city of Mobodoon or something… is now suddenly burnt to a crisp. Man, this is so confusing!"

"Quickly, we need to take a look at the body," Wave said, but before she could, Tikal grabbed her hand. "What is it, pacifist girl?"

"Aren't we forgetting someone?" she asked. My eyes widened.

"Oh no, where's Amy?!"

"She got blown up, didn't she?" Silver said.

"No!" Tikal yelled. "That can't be! Surely the bomb didn't kill her?"

It was then we heard a groaning noise behind us, and as we turned to look, we saw Amy holding her head and looking like she was in immense pain.

"Ugh… Gaia, I haven't felt this awful since I drank that bottle of my dad's gin…" she said..

"Amy, you're okay!" Tikal ran up to the hedgehog, hugging her.

"W-wha… what… what in the heck? Where am I? And… oww… why does my body hurt?" complained Amy.

"I'll catch her up on everything," Silver said. "In the meantime, you three try to find clues!"

I nodded as Tikal, Wave and I approached the now charred body of Infinite. I crouched down, and through the completely tattered and black clothing, I could make out a black furred hand with some kind of symbol on it, and… a blue object. Picking it up, I stared at it as Tikal and Wave approached me.

"What the heck is this?" I asked. It looked a bit like a key, but it wasn't the one that Vector had taken from Egg Robo. No, it was like it went somewhere else.

"Any idea where this goes?" I asked the girls. Both shook their heads. That was, until Wave smirked.

"Actually, I think I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"I think that key opens a place we haven't been to yet because it's locked. Tell me, Charmy: can you think of any place that you might be able to open now with this just by how this looks?"

"Not really…"

"Okay, let me give you some starters. Of the only doors we haven't been able to access, it's been the headmaster's officer, the data center, the bio lab, and the second-floor dorms. The choice is yours."

Looking at the key again, I flipped it around a few times, trying to figure out what kind of door this key would open. Flipping it around, I noticed that there were what seemed to be circuitry lines designed onto the key.

"I have an idea as to what it might be," I said. "Gimme one moment."

"Charmy, wait!" Tikal said. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"I mean, sure, I don't mind."

"Okay, let's go."

Tikal followed me out of the garden as we made our way to data center a few feet away.

"I'm scared…" she said. "What if this is a trap?"

"Why would Infinite have a key that leads to a trap?" I asked.

"Because he's probably the one who set it up!"

"Nonsense, besides, the data center seems like an important place. What would he do, blow it up with bombs?"

"You never know!"

"Well, here goes."

With my trembling hand, I placed the key into the keyhole and turned it. After hearing that satisfying, _'click'_ , my eyes widened.

"It… it worked!" I asked.

"Let me go get the others quickly!" Tikal said, running off for the others. I looked around the hallway, hoping that no one was coming after me or I was leaving myself open for someone to attack me. Thankfully, no such thing happened as Tikal returned with the other three.

"I'm back!" she said. Wave stepped forward.

"So, it was the data center we unlocked," she added.

"Well, c'mon! Let's go inside!" Silver said.

"Wait, before we go, I need you all to think about something. Why in the world would Infinite have that key on him?"

We stood around for a few seconds, not able to answer Wave's question.

"No answer? Figures. Oh well, let's just go inside."

The swallow opened the door as we all followed inside. I heard Silver murmur, "Whoa…" as we looked around the room. Screens filled the walls as the light bounced onto our bodies. A thick blue glue reflected onto everyone as the buzz of electricity flowing was heard throughout the room. I didn't know where to start, there was so much to begin with.

But all I knew was that this room was… _strange._ Not the strange like… well, this entire zone was, but the strange as in: This place was not normal at all.

"Hey, is that?" Tikal said, pointing at the screens near the wall. We all walked to where the echidna pointed and I almost felt my throat drop into my stomach.

The multiple monitors placed on the wall showed… a different screen. And on each screen was EVERY room in Green Hills.

"This is the direct feed!" Wave said, putting her hands on the monitors. "Every surveillance camera placed in the zone, they all feed back to here! It seems the data center exists for us to be monitored."

"T-Then they've seen… everything?!" Tikal put her hands over her mouth.

"Even the stuff I'm sure you didn't want others to see, pacifist girl."

"But why was it locked?" Amy asked.

"Simple: this is the mastermind's private room. Why do you think it was locked? Besides, wouldn't it explain THAT door?"

Wave pointed to a door to the left side of the room, a lone door with Egg Robo's face on it. Frankly, I didn't even WANT to go in there.

"Regardless, I think this settles everything."

"Settles what?"

"The body in the garden. If they had this key, this means that our mastermind really is Infinite the Jackal, and now he's dead."

"So the mastermind is dead? Like, REALLY dead?!"

"This ain't a joke, right?" Silver asked. "Can I actually use my powers now?"

The silver hedgehog held out his hand to try and use his ESP but found he couldn't open the Egg Robo door.

"Augh, damn. Maybe not."

As everyone talked excitedly about the death of the mastermind, I thought back to something: The way Infinite died wasn't exactly NORMAL. In this case, would that mean that someone killed him? And if so, who?

The others, however, weren't concerned like I was.

"If that means the mastermind is dead, then we can get outta here! C'mon, let's go find the exit!" Silver continued.

"We can't," Wave retorted. "We need to check everything."

"What do you mean check? What else is there to check?!"

"I want to get out of here as much as you do, dorkfest, but right now, we need to find out WHY the mastermind created this game of life or death. Surely they weren't on any kind of drugs when they made it, and had so much of this be premeditated beyond belief."

"Why does that matter? It's not like we have a trial or anything!"

"Because maybe you haven't realized it, _Silver,_ but it's beyond clear that the mastermind has been murdered."

"M-Murdered? By who?!"

"That's what we need to find out."

"You thought so too? That Infinite was murdered?" I asked.

"Naturally. It's the state of the corpse, bee. There should leave no room for doubt."

"If so, then who?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. For now, we need to find out who could have done it."

I started to think about why the mastermind could have done it. Was it pure boredom? Was there a reason? And would the data center even have all the clues I'd need?

I knew I had to get started on investigating. Buzzing up to the monitors, I stared long and hard at all the feeds in front of us.

"Does that mean the mastermind watched Knuckles and Shadow's bro-off? ...whatever THAT was," I said to myself. Staring into the feeds, I watched close as some monitors tuned to static as it switched to different parts of a room or a hallway. But I knew I couldn't watch feeds forever. After turning my attention from the monitors, I turned to look at one of the computers sitting in the middle of the room. Unlike the laptop that had Ditz on it, this computer looked like it was state of the art.

"Do you think this computer can run the world's most intense game of solitaire?" Silver asked.

"Why would the mastermind be playing solitaire while we're all in here?" I replied.

"You never know! That's like, a mastermind thing to do! Just do ordinary tasks while watching your little guinea pigs! Like stroke a chao or eat some cookies, that kinda thing!"

"That's just in the movies. Be real."

"I'm telling you!"

"No use in playing computer games on this thing," Wave pointed at the monitor. "It seems that not only was this on sleep mode, but it's asking us for a password, and I'm a mechanic, not a hacker."

"Do you think this is what the mastermind used to monitor the network? Like, this is how he figured out that Ditz was on the network?" Tikal asked.

"That's not a bad theory, pacifist girl."

I turned from the computer to see… a TV.

"Huh?" I buzzed to it as the others followed behind me. While it was completely off…

"Hey, look!" Silver rushed forward and grabbed something that was on the TV stand. "TV antennae's! It's like the one my parents had until we got that HDTV a year ago!"

"You were on analog television that long?"

"My parents only recently gave in to getting cable…"

"Of course…"

"But still, if we hook this up, we can watch TV!"

"We can?!" Amy held her hands together. "Oh man, I probably missed SOOOOO many episodes of Mobius' Next Top Model and Apatos Bachelor!"

"Forget about that!" Tikal said. "We can watch the news to see what's going on!"

"I'd love to put this up but… I dunno how to," Silver added. Wave walked up and grabbed the TV antennae from the hedgehog's hands. "Hey, what gives?!"

"TV's are a LITTLE out of my field of expertise, but let the mechanic take care of this," she said. "Let's hope this thing has a coaxial cable and an RF port…"

As Wave got behind the TV, with Silver and Amy watching, Tikal tapped my shoulder.

"Hey Charmy… what do you think is in the room with Egg Robo's face on it?"

"Frankly, I wouldn't be able to tell you," I replied. "But it looks spooky to the point where I don't even WANNA know."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one. Something about the room unsettles me. Still though… don't you think we should give it a shot? Everyone is here after all, so if something happened…"

"…the others could save us, right?"

"Correct!"

"Alright, let's give this a shot. But for Gaia's sake, I hope this isn't a bomb."

I put my hand on the doorknob and turned it, only to find…

…it didn't open.

"Huh?"

I tried again, nothing.

"Is it locked?

"Try the key you got! If it worked here, maybe it'll work for this door too!"

Doing what she said, I got out the key to the data center, but unlike the lock to the dock, the lock to the Egg Robo door wouldn't take the key to the data center.

"Nothing too. Damn, guess we're not going there."

As we turned around, we watched as Silver plugged in the TV. A light on the TV began to shine red, signifying that it had power.

"Whoo, it works!" Silver said.

"Don't get your knickers up too high, we need to make sure this works," Wave replied.

"I know! Man, stupid mastermind, telling us we 'HAD TO GET RID OF THE OUTSIDE WOOOOORLD'!" Silver said this in a mocking tone, moving his hips as to exaggerate Egg Robo. "And here they were probably watching Chao Planet! Who makes an entire TV channel dedicated to Chao?!"

"Quiet you, we still need to make sure this works. Now, for these connections requiring RF connections, they'll be on the numbered channels. Normally, they should default to Channel 3, so Amy? Can you switch the channel to 3?"

"No problem!" The pink hedgehog replied, doing so via a remote that I hadn't realized they had found. Amy switched to channel 3 as the screen went black. When the picture finally cleared up, the picture was scrambled.

"Oh no, do we need a super expensive decoder box?" Silver asked.

"Where in the hell are we going to find one of those? And besides, unless you have Pay TV, you don't NEED a decoder box unless you're watching movies or, let's face it knowing you, porn."

"I never watched that! I was a good little boy!"

"Yeah, and Jet called himself the same thing too. Guess what he not only ended up doing but guess what kind of person he was?"

This shut Silver up as Wave fiddled with the rabbit ears. "Damn things, no wonder we all moved to satellites… Which begs the question: why ISN'T this a satellite connection? Why analog?"

We learned the answer to that question when Wave finally got the connection to work. The picture was no longer descrambled and displayed a clear as day picture quality. It was only what that picture CONTAINED that concerned us, because what we saw in front of us on the screen was…

Us, staring at the TV staring at ourselves.

"What," Silver said flatly.

"This isn't my shows…" Amy said.

"Wait a minute, isn't this the feed from the surveillance camera?" Tikal asked. I turned to face it.

"Yeah, she's right!"

I turned around to see Wave trying to stop Silver from reaching the antennae.

"What are you doing?!" she questioned.

"We have to mess with this somehow! The picture isn't normal! It shouldn't be displaying us!" he replied. "C'mon, let's change the channel at least!" he then proceeded to nab the remote from Amy's hand. Channel 4?"

Upon switching to the channel, it was the same image.

"No, Channel 7?"

Same thing.

"…channel 69?"

"Real mature of you, dorkfest," Wave replied. But upon changing to the channel, it was the same image. Silver dropped the remote in fear.

"It's… it's not broken, is it?"

"Of course it isn't!" Tikal said.

"Give it a good slap!" Amy added.

"You're right, Amy! Give it a good slap!"

"Yeah, what Charmy said!"

I froze. "I… I never said that."

"Huh?" Amy looked at me with a look on her face. "What do you mean you-"

She stopped as she suddenly looked at someone behind Tikal and I. Thinking back to that voice…. No, oh no! Oh no NO!

It wasn't…

I turned around with fear and my eyes wide as they ever could be. When I did, I saw…

 _Him._

"WHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?!" Silver screamed.

"HO HO HOOOOOOOOO! How's my favorite little shits been? Good? Did you enjoy having your freedom? Did you enjoy making as many chili dogs as you wanted without me? Be real, you had a lot, didn't you?!" Egg Robo said.

"Y-You!" I spat out.

"What is this?! You should be dead!" Amy screamed, bouncing up and down in anger.

"Me, dead?!" the robot replied. "How can a beautiful shell like mine just die? Nope, never can happen!"

"B-But… you were damaged!" Silver held his hands to his head.

"I'm a new Egg Robo! A chicken laid my egg yesterday and I finally grew up into a fine young man! At least, I still kept my egg on as my body but who cares?"

"B-But… the body… your body… in the gym…" Tikal whispered.

"Oh yeah, THAAAAT'S the face I wanna see. The face you all are making right now once the hope in front of you turns into despair…"

"You pretended to be dead…" Wave walked forward towards the robot in anger. "JUST for this moment?!"

"Why would an egg pretend to be dead? If it's not fertilized, then it's basically good as dead! It's almost so funny, I want to laugh! And yeah, I want you guys to laugh! No, not you, YOU! Yes, YOU!"

We all looked at each other in confusion.

"Eh, not like I expected you guys to be Einstein or anything. That's beside the point though! The point is that we need to let despair continue! And by doing so, we have to continue your killing zone life!"

"N-No… we have to… we have to continue?" Tikal bemoaned.

"PLEASE! GET ME OUTTA HERE! I'M DONNEE!" Silver begged.

"Not on my watch, you're not!" said the robot. "Besides, I told you there's no getting out here! I mean, you all spent SO long here, wouldn't you all miss the good stuff like all the food and shelter you have?"

"I don't care about that! I care about getting out!" Amy ruffled her hair as Egg Robo laughed.

"Jeez, you're acting like you're poor! Oh wait, you are! All the money can't save you from here, toots! But hey, we have a zone store to feed your spending habits, Amy! That sound appealing, right?"

"I think that's enough out of you," I said.

"Eh, guess you're right. Besides, it wasn't long before I knew you were gonna become a buzzkill. Might as well explain why I'm here! So, you did find the TV after all! And no, you all aren't gonna watch the crappy news or Mobius' Next Top Model, but… I will say: this TV has been very important!"

"It was holding a secret…" Wave said. "Well? Tell us! What is it?!"

"Yeah, like why is it showing us a feed?" Silver added. Egg Robo put his arms on his side and looked at us.

"I'm gonna let you all in on a secret. You listenin'?" he asked. "The TV is, without a doubt, displaying the signal coming in on the antenna."

We all looked a little confused, sans for Wave. "Wait a minute," she said. "You don't mean?"

"Jeez, at least YOU get it, Wave! But it looks like your dumb friends don't! Do you all need EVERYTHING explained to you?"

"Just explain it."

"Fine! This killing game… this ENTIRE zone life… is being broadcasted to the entire world!"

You know how in the movies, when someone realizes something, it's like they just witness or hear glass being shattered? This was my moment. He could say it twice and I wouldn't believe it. I didn't even move, didn't even react.

Does he literally mean…. EVERYTHING?

The others reacted just as badly as I thought. I could hear Silver screaming as Tikal began to hyperventilate.

"No! No no no! T-This…" she began to take deep breaths as she played with her hair. "This can't be really!"

"It's a lie! No one can… no can see! They can't, they can't, they CAN'T!" exclaimed Amy.

"How? I don't understand… how could you possibly take over the airwaves?! Ever since TV switched from digital and satellite usage, it's much harder to hijack television signals!"

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked.

"Have you heard of the Dreamcaster hijacking?"

"No?..."

"Ugh, figures. Anyway, thirty years ago, someone hijacked MBTV with a homemade broadcast containing some disturbing imagery. The culprits were never found, but it's the most well-known case of broadcast signal intrusion on Mobius."

"What does this have to do with us?"

"Notice how I said thirty years ago. That was when TV stations used microwave frequencies for transmissions, not satellites. Encryption and the like were far weaker in those days, but something like this… Egg Robo, you said this was being broadcast to the entire world, correct?"

"Sure did!"

"To make a broadcast that could override not just one satellite, but ALL of them… How… how did you manage that?!"

"Not like I'd tell you my secrets! It's for the benefit of the audience naturally! All the hints I gave you, all the mystery, it's for my loving audience of people! Do you all watch mystery or drama knowing everything? No! You gotta let the story unfold and let the mystery reveal itself! If you didn't have that, then you'd have no viewers. And when you have no viewers, you have no show!"

"But with all the murders…"

"Also broadcasted!"

"You mean to tell me the entire world is watching some kind of snuff TV show, and there's nothing no one can do?!"

"Y-Yeah!" Tikal said in the middle of her panic attack. "If this was on TV, then EVERY law enforcement officer, no, every GOVERNMENT would probably want an answer for this!"

"They'd have to have come for us!" Amy added.

"What if they didn't and they… failed?" Egg Robo asked.

"NOW WHAT?!" Silver yelled in the middle of his screaming.

"It's none of their business really. If anything, watching this show is like watching any old reality show. You yell at it when people are annoying, but it's not like you can enter the TV and fight them! We're not a murder solving RPG after all!"

"What did you use?" asked Wave.

"Huh?"

"What did you use? Answer the question."

"I think I'm in no position to answer that question, Ms. Wave! Instead, I want you all to pay attention to the massive television screen, which isn't gonna play for you a rap, but instead, is gonna play you…" Egg Robo held up a remote and pressed a button on it. "…this!"

The monitor near the Egg Robo door sprang to life as another Egg Robo appeared on the screen. What he said next only made my heart sink lower.

 _"A body has been discovered!" he said. "Now then... after a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"_

"Y-You don't mean?!" I said, before I heard a sudden thud. I turned to see Tikal on the floor, one hand on the floor and the other over her mouth.

"No… no no no!" she cried. "Please… not anything…! Not another trial!"

Egg Robo grinned. "Ho ho ho… Ho ho ho! HO HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YOU BET! And now it's time for your favorite part! No more crying! No more begging! Here comes EggPad #6! And prepare yourself carefully, because this trial is gonna be insane! I can't waaaaaaaaaaaaait!"

Egg Robo vanished as I could hear Tikal's audible sobs. I could even see Amy putting her hands over her face as she put her elbows on the closest table. She might not have been crying hard, but I could tell she was crying. What semblance of hope we had died in the last few minutes. We all believed that Egg Robo was destroyed, the mastermind was dead, and we were finally going to get out. But despair almost always has a funny way of working…

Even I felt woozy at the idea of another trial. I felt sick to my stomach, but I couldn't throw up. All I could do was sit there and accept that this wasn't going to change anything, that we were still playing Egg Robo's game, that all this was being broadcasted to the world.

"Guys… what should we do?" Silver asked. "You heard him. The world is watching us."

"P-Please… no… no-no-no more…" Tikal started. "I can't take another trial… how much blood does he want shed?"

"And I wanted to finally get out of here!" Amy cried. "Why another trial?!"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Wave. "You two," she pointed at Tikal and Amy. "Stop with the crying. Look, I get that it sucks that we have to go through another one. I'm not too pleased about this either, but all we have to do is find out who killed Vector."

My blood ran cold at this. "W-What?! What do you mean?!"

"What do you mean, 'What do I mean'? Egg Robo is clearly still alive! That means so is the mastermind, Infinite the Jackal! The body can't belong to him, I know it!"

But how? How could Vector be murdered?! Who could do it, and why? Why would they leave me alone with nobody left to trust with my life? I lost Espio, please... please, not Vector! Not Vector, not Vector, NOT VECTOR!

"I can see the look on your face, bee. Whether or not you want to admit it, you have to face the truth. It's why it's called the truth! If you don't believe it, then I suggest you find the real truth and prove us wrong. Now, I think we should get started."

Amy wiped her nose. "Wait a minute… if Vector is dead then one of us must have-"

"That's right," Wave interrupted her. "One of us participating in this game killed Vector."

We all took a step back. Silver put his hands over his head.

"Yo, what do you mean?! One of US killed Vector?!" he said.

"I didn't specifically say that."

"Then what did you-"

"Look, I don't have time to explain," she started to walk off. "I need to do my own personal research. I suggest you all do your own investigations. If we can, well, I think we can string a plausible argument from this," As she was about to leave, she turned around to face us. "By the by, I should mention this right now: If you value your lives, I suggest you give this investigation your all."

Wave walked off, leaving the rest of us behind with our EggPAD's in our hands.

 **INVESTIGATION**

 **BEGIN!**


	44. Chapter 6 (Investigation)

**(AN: Honestly, I'm a bit ashamed.**

 **I REALLY should have gotten this out sooner, but getting used to being back to school and procrastination meant I'm getting this out far later than I would have liked. I'm so sorry for this. But enough excuses, I'm still gonna deliver!**

 **Besides... I wasn't going to leave Charmy and the gang in despair mode while I go on my jolly ol' merry way, no?**

 **Wait, do people say that?**

 **Eh whatever.**

 **Also, thank you all for 8k views!)**

 **(EDIT: I actually edited part of this to remove the tape from the original and replaced it with something else half-way during writing the trial of this chapter. If you're here from that part, make sure to re-read what it actually was before continuing with the trial part! Thanks!)**

* * *

 _A spotlight shone on Egg Robo as he sat in his judge's chair. His moustache bounced in place as the robot sat down._

 _"Man… this is getting to be a very hectic case, isn't it?" he asked. "But if you catch onto the details, the rest will fall into place. Here's a little hint: think back to that knife. Why was it there?"_

 _He stared directly at the viewer. "I'll see you later this chapter, kid. Peace."_

* * *

"Okay, time to check this thing," I said, starting up the sixth EggPAD and reading the content in it.

 _"Victim #7, unknown_

 _Due to the explosion, the identity of the victim is currently unknown. What can be deduced from the body however is that, even before the explosion, the unknown victim was already dead. The victim had been stabbed through the chest with a knife, they had a bullet hole in the same area where they had been stabbed and was also hit with a blunt object. There were other wounds on the body, but it seems to be more than 24 hours old."_

"Damn, looks like this thing gives me no clues," I said, lowering the PAD. I couldn't help but think back to that body though.

Vector? Where are you? That person really can't be you? If it is, that means someone must have torn off your snout.

…and frankly, I shudder to think about how horrific that sounds.

 _"No, enough of these daydreams! I'm sick of thinking! I need to search out the truth! I need to return to the garden!"_ I thought to myself.

Buzzing out of the data center and to the fifth floor, I couldn't help but think back to the roof. Usually, most of these cases tend to have clues on each new floor we have unlocked to us.

"Eh, I'll think about it later," I said, opening the doors to the garden. I had noticed that everyone had returned there and were all investigating different parts of the room. Silver was over by the chao shed, looking through the screen windows, Amy was digging stuff out from the supply shed, Wave was writing something down in her PAD, and Tikal was praying over the body of the blown-up individual.

I decided to check there first.

"Tikal, mind if I check the body?" I asked. The echidna continued to mumble as her eyes remained closed, hands held up to her chest. Guess she was still busy praying.

Shifting my body towards the charred individual, I decided I should first try to find out more information on whether this was Vector or not. The first thing I had noticed was the hand of the person. Earlier, prior to the body blowing up, I noticed that there was some kind of symbol on this person's hand. Somehow, the hand was perfectly fine despite the explosion, and when I lifted the hand, I could tell that the symbol was a tattoo?

"JACKAL SQUAD" was on the black furred hand, complete with a logo depicting a jackal howling with various weapons surrounding it.

Wait a minute…

Furred?

I began to feel the hand even more, and when I did, I noticed black fur shedding from the hand.

"So… it is him," I said. I wrote down my first two clues from the information I gathered: the black fur and the Jackal Squad tattoo.

Moving from the hand, I decided to take a gander at the upper half of the body. Due to the explosion and the fire ensuing from it, I guarantee that the body was charred beyond recognition. Even if I could've removed the mask, it probably wouldn't matter much.

The only thing I could notice was that the top half was wet due to Wave and me putting out the fire, and the bottom half was perfectly dry. That was normal, right? Still, I wrote my analysis of the body as my third clue.

Just as I was about to get up from the floor, I moved my hand onto something hard. I looked at it to see that it was a large piece of something metallic. Lifting it up, all I could notice about it was that it was something red surrounded by a completely rusted metal. I knocked on it a few times, trying to determine what it was.

"Still, it seems useful," I said, writing down the strange fragment as my fourth clue. Dropping the fragment, I looked to see… a knife.

And when I buzzed closer to it and examined it, it wasn't JUST a knife, but the knife that Amy had given me. This was… the same knife the masked individual attacked me with, and the one Vector put back in my drawer after he attacked the masked person.

Yet, when I woke up, the knife was gone.

How could it have vanished while I was asleep? Surely Vector didn't come back into my room, or… no, no, the killer couldn't have returned to my room, could they? How? If they tried to attack me once, why didn't they try to go for it again?

I thought back to what the EggPAD said. He was stabbed with a knife, but it wasn't what killed him, and that there was a bullet hole in the same area where he was stabbed. Now we're getting guns involved too? Was there a place in this zone that even HAD guns?!

This was getting too weird. I wrote down the knife as my fifth clue. I won't lie, I think I've gotten so much better at all this clue finding that I don't think I need Vector's help anymore. This room holds so many clues that I guarantee this class trial won't take longer than four thousand words!

…at least, I hoped.

I decided to start talking to my friends about what they found and see what clues I could gather. Leaving Tikal alone for now, I buzzed on over to where Amy was, where she was throwing stuff out from the supply shed one by one.

"Amy?" I asked, poking my head inside and narrowly avoiding being hit by a bag of mulch. "Amy, did you find anything?"

"Not now, Charmy! I'm busying finding things!" she replied.

"How are you certain you can find things here?"

"It's called…" she lifted a large amount of pots. "…women's intuition!"

"Is that even how it works?"

'I'm not sure but I'm going with it!"

I wasn't sure if Amy really WAS looking for clues or she was pretending to do so only to avoid thinking about the body, but regardless, I left her alone. Maybe there WAS some secret hidden in there, who knows.

Next, after leaving the shed, I had noticed that Tikal had gotten up from the floor and was no longer praying but was now staring at the body. Seeing as how I didn't feel bad for interrupting her now, I buzzed up to her and she quickly turned to face me.

"Oh Charmy… I thought we were done with this foolishness… but… was I foolish enough to think that we were all going to be pacifistic now?" she asked.

"I don't think that's foolish at all," I replied. "It's your main desire to see no more death, period."

"But… how does it explain this body? Even if Infinite the Jackal is our enemy… should I be grieving over him?"

"Look, you're letting this get to your head," I said. "Here, let's think about something else. Like, any clues?"

"Clues? Um… well, do you remember before the body exploding how the body looked like?"

"It's still fresh in my mind, yeah. Why?"

"On my way here, I was reading the EggPAD and it mentioned something about how the victim was dead before the explosion. And yet, there's all this talk about there being a bullet hole and while it hurts my head, it's been making me think about something: if this person was dead before the explosion, how could all the blood be fresh and only on the top part of the body?"

"Top part?"

"Think about it. If someone was killed, in the movies, there should be blood on the floor. And yet… not a single drop of it was anywhere on the floor. AND, it was wet, as if someone stabbed it prior to us arriving to the garden."

She brought up some incredible theories, I wasn't gonna lie. Maybe all the violence has desensitized her into becoming an amazing detective too…

I wrote down the status of the body as my sixth clue as I thought back to what Tikal said. Dead before the explosion, and yet, wet blood only on the top of the body…

And that bullet hole from a gun that we don't even know the whereabouts of? How could he be shot and yet not bleed on the floor?

This was hurting my head, so I knew I had to move onto something else. I decided to gander at the sprinkler system over towards the exit. I remembered what Egg Robo said about the times, how the time for the sprinklers to go off was ALWAYS 7:30 a.m, no earlier or later. If that was the case… if the body was here prior to that time, then the body should have gotten wet. And it means in THAT case, the murder would have had to happen prior to the sprinklers turning on!

I quickly wrote this down as my seventh clue, stopping to realize I had written sprinklers as 'spinkerls' due to how fast I was writing.

"Eh, whatever, I know what I mean," I shrugged.

I looked around to see who I could talk to next, and I decided to see what Silver was looking at through the screen window. Peeking inside, I had noticed all the chao in the mini kindergarten from before, only that the four of them looked frightened and all huddled together as they shook.

"Wait a minute… four?" I said to myself. I hadn't noticed that Silver finally stopped looking through the window until he spoke up.

"You saw it too?" asked the white hedgehog.

"Huh?"

"You saw it too. There's four in here when there used to be five?"

"That's right!"

"What happened to the other one? Did someone finally decide to steal one? Isn't that like, illegal or something?"

"I dunno but last night when I was here, I DEFINITELY noticed that there were five chao. I have no idea where that other one is, and frankly, I'm too afraid to find out!"

He was right, where WAS the final chao? Why would it go missing while this was happening?

And most importantly, who would dare make all these Chao afraid, because make them cry or scared and I SWEAR I will come for your blood.

… _ahem._

I wrote down my eighth clue; the Chao kindergartens' Chao.

Finally, I buzzed over to where Wave was, who was just finishing up with whatever she was writing on her PAD.

"Whacha up to?" I asked as I buzzed up to the swallow.

"Writing clues and not asking bothersome questions, like what you're doing right now," she replied. "But enough about that, you have some incredible timing. I need to ask you something very urgent."

"Urgent? When it comes to you, I'm sure urgent and Charmy Bee aren't two words that really _overlap_ per say-"

"Oh shut it and listen. I'm sure if you're not pressed, you can answer me truthfully: tell me; what's your alibi from last night?"

I was dumbfounded. "A-Alibi?!"

"Yes, alibi. Now, are you going to answer me or not?!"

"W-Well, I thought I explained it to you: I was sick all night and stayed in bed. That's why I wasn't responding and well, I assume you knew that by you telling me off to not get you sick. Why are you even asking me?"

"I feel like it's fairly certain to tell that this murder happened last night. Of everyone present in the gym, you and Vector were the only ones that weren't there with us. Care to explain that?"

"I'm more interested in why you seem to think this happened last night, really."

"Simple: after I had found out what happened to Egg Robo, I went throughout the entire zone looking for everyone, including the garden. There was no such body when I looked, so this can only conclude the murder happened AFTER I had arrived at the garden to look for the others. As I said, myself, Amy, Silver, and Tikal were in the gym that night, so the only people we don't have alibis from are you and Vector. I should also mention, as I was busy working on Egg Robo, I made the rule that we can't go alone. We went to the bathroom in pairs, we stayed in the gym all night, and even stayed up all night working. If the victim is really Vector…"

"…then the only one without an alibi is me, right?"

"As we said, we tried to get you multiple times from your room, but you didn't come out. Were you really sick?"

"I was! I'm telling the truth!"

Wave covered one of her ears. "Goodness, no need to yell. Besides, you DO know that's hardly an alibi."

"I mean, what else am I supposed to say? You know I was sick!"

"Just because you were sick doesn't mean you can't commit murder. You seem to be stuck in a hard place, no?"

She's right. I really WAS stuck in a hard place. My question is now… where do I go from here?

As I turned around to leave, I wrote Wave's account as my ninth clue.

Suddenly, Silver ran up to me. I buzzed back a little bit, wanting a bit of personal space.

"Jeez, what happened?" I asked.

"It's 11 o' clock!" he exclaimed.

"…uh… and?"

"Well, think about when we found the body!"

"When we found the body?"

The time?... Now that I thought about it, at 7, Egg Robo's announcement woke me up, then I helped Tikal prepare breakfast with the others about half an hour later, I think. The usual things happened with me discovering what happened to Egg Robo, culminating with Wave telling Amy to find the pickaxe at… what time was it again?

Oh right, it was around…

"…9?" I asked.

"Yeah, we found the body around 9! And then afterwards, we spent around the next two hours trying to find out what happened, getting everything in the data center and all that jazz, so we can say for certain that the body was found at 9!"

I wrote down the time the body was found as my 10th clue as Silver walked off. Wondering where else I should go, I was about to head out when Amy walked up to me holding a white dirty tarp.

 _"Man, can I just leave to look around?..."_ I thought to myself.

"Hey, Charmy, do you recognize this?" asked the pink hedgehog.

"I don't think so. Was that always there?"

"That's why I'm asking you. I've never really been in the garden. There's something weird about this though."

Amy flipped the tarp around, revealing… a side of the tarp that was completely clean. Now THAT concerned me. What reason would any one of us have to use a tarp?

I wasn't going to say anything JUST yet, but I wrote down the tarp as my twelfth clue.

As Amy walked off to presumably look for more clues, I thought about just how many clues there were left in the garden. I thought that was everything, but there was still some stuff that needed to be solved. For example, that metallic piece by the body. I needed to go somewhere to confirm that…

And most importantly… where was Vector now? The body is clearly Infinite's, so…

There was only one thing I could do. For me to find out more information on what happened, I had to see if I could get into Vector's room. My only problem was that Wave no doubt still had the key to his room.

So, with all the doubt in my mind, I buzzed up to the swallow, who was still writing some stuff on her PAD.

"Um, Wave?" I asked.

"If you have an alibi, wait until the trial," she replied, not looking up from her PAD.

"No no, it's not about that. You have the key to Vector's room, right? Do you mind if I borrow that?"

The swallow turned to face me as if I was insane. "Of course not! You're the prime suspect. Why would I give it to you?!"

"Well… if you chaperoned me, that would be okay, right?"

She looked at me for a few seconds before sighing. "I suppose."

"Well, will you go?"

"No."

"No?!"

"Find me later and I'll consider it, but don't take that as me saying, 'yes'."

Wave walked off as I groaned. For Gaia's sake, is she always the buzzkill around here?

Actually yes, yes she _is._

* * *

I buzzed my way to the gym, thinking back to the fragment I found by the body. That metallic red part really made me think back to something in the gym, and when I opened the doors, I saw that the old Egg Robo was still laying dismantled on the ground. I crouched on the ground and moved wires and motherboard pieces around, but not being able to find…

 _The bomb._

I recalled how Silver had found the bomb inside Egg Robo, the same bomb that each of the Egg Robo robots had. The same bomb that I remember almost blowing up Shadow when we'd first arrived at Green Hills.

And here it was; the bomb was missing, and the fragments were in the garden. I updated my clues on the fragments, connecting them to the bomb.

With that out of the way, I returned to the garden with the hopes that Wave was finally in the mood to come with me to Vector's room. Sure enough, when she saw me return with a smile on my face, she sighed.

"Lemme guess, you're not gonna let this go, are you?" she asked as I shook my head.

"Alright, let's go…"

The swallow led the way as I followed behind. We didn't share any words between us until we finally reached Vector's room.

"You ever been in here?" I asked.

"Of course not. I have no reason to," she replied. Wave pulled out the key from her pocket as she put it into the keyhole, turning it.

"Thanks for this by the way."

Wave didn't respond as we both went inside. She turned on the lights as the I looked around the room. It looked normal enough, nothing out of the ordinary. It was then that I noticed something laying on the table.

"What's this?" I asked myself, picking up a wooden block.

"I wouldn't know. Is it some kind of key?"

"Why would a key look like this?"

"Traditional bath houses use keys that look like that. You never know."

"How would you know that?"

"The Babylon Rogues would go to one in each town we visit for our Grand Prix's. I have experience naturally. But the question begs… what does this open?"

"Can you think of anything that this could open?

"Hm… Wasn't there something on the rood?"

"The roof?"

"Did you happen to notice what were behind the vending machines?"

"Not at all."

Wave sighed. "Goodness… Okay, next to the vending machines were a pair of lockers. I believe this is what they open."

"Why don't they use normal keys?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it's the same style of locker that the dojo has."

"Okay so… why wouldn't this unlock one of the dojo lockers?

"Because of the number on the key," Wave pointed to the "7" on the key. "The dojo doesn't have a locker with a seven on it."

"But now this begs the question: why would Vector have this?"

"I don't know. He's your friend, not mine."

I sure as hell didn't know the answer, but regardless, I wrote down the woodblock key as my thirteenth clue.

"Tell me bee, why are we even here in the first place?"

"I figured we could find a clue if we looked around."

"Could find a clue? As in, you're not even certain we will?! That sounds like a massive waste of time."

"N-No it isn't!"

"You don't even have a sense of direction. Do you or do you not have a leg to stand on?"

Do I?

Wait a minute…

 _That letter…_

 _"Should something happen to me, open it. Until then, under any circumstance, promise me you won't open it,"_ Vector told me when he gave me that letter.

I instinctively pulled the letter from my coat where I kept it, not wanting to risk Egg Robo or anyone else finding the letter.

"What's that?" Wave asked as I looked up, the swallow staring at me with an odd look to her face.

"Vector gave me this," I replied. "He told me if something happened to him, to open the letter."

"Well, something clearly has happened. Go ahead, open it."

I nodded as I opened the letter. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to expect. More info about Infinite? A set of instructions detailing how to beat the mastermind?

No, what I got was a single sheet of paper with one line on it:

 _"Under the covers."_

"Huh?"

Wave walked over to read over my shoulder. "That's not a very comprehensive guide, is it?" she asked.

"I know that but… that's it?"

"Well, you read the letter. Check under the covers."

I turned to face the bed as I quickly dug under the covers. For a few seconds, all I could feel was the silky texture of the covers. That was until I felt something crumbled near the pillow.

"What's this?"

I pulled out a balled-up piece of paper. Opening it up, I stretched it out so that wrinkles didn't cover the paper. Once I was able to get the sheet looking somewhat normal, I went ahead and read what Vector left me. What it was however….

Wasn't what I expected.

 _"Green Hills Zone, student registry_

 _Class: #91_

 _Name: Infinite the Jackal"_

"Looks like this is Infinite's profile…" I said.

"Profile, you say?" Wave asked.

 _"This had to have been the other thing that was stolen from Egg Robo. You know, not just the key, but this…"_ I thought to myself.

"Well? What does it say?"

I continued to read.

 _"Name: Infinite the Jackal_

 _Sex: M_

 _Title: Ultimate Mercenary_

 _Description: Born as a child of war to two soldiers, Infinite's parents were killed during the Merician Civil War due to a bombing. As Infinite was one a few survivors of the bombing, he was later taking in by the Merician Army and trained to be a child soldier._

 _After the end of the Civil War when he was in his preteen age, Infinite retreated to the jungles of Adabat and created a mercenary group known as the Jackal Squad. What set apart this group from other armies was that, as the name implies, only jackals made up the team of mercenaries. As their leader, Infinite lead a resistance against the government of Adabat, not doing it for any real cause, but doing it for monetary gain. Thanks to his ultimate talent due to his years of exposure, Infinite was able to negotiate deals with the government to get what he wanted, not before nearly causing an armed conflicted that resulted in the death of four Adabat soldiers._

 _Two years back, it was stated that Infinite had vanished, and the Jackal Squad had disbanded, but with his arrival to Green Hills, it seems he wishes to turn his life around while still remembering his original skill: Ultimate Mercenary."_

I quickly placed the paper on the bed, getting out my PAD and writing the fourteenth clue: Infinite's Profile.

"This profile…" I muttered.

It felt so… surreal.

Everyone here had such normal Ultimate talents. Runner, gardener, mechanic, fisherman… Sure, you had stuff like telekinetic and ninja, but…

The fact that someone was a former child soldier turned mercenary, and that same person was now dead…

What did this mean?

And that name… "Jackal Squad"… it's the same name I saw on the back of Infinite's hand.

"Do you recognize the name?" Wave asked.

"It's on… Infinite's hand," I replied.

"Excuse me?"

"Wave, didn't you look at the body? On the back of its hand there's a tattoo with a jackal and the words, "Jackal Squad" on it. The body in the garden, it's Infinite!"

"I… I see…"

"What do you know about the Jackal Squad? Please Wave, you have to know!"

"I don't know much! Look, all I know about the Jackal Squad is what I've heard through the media. From what I understand, the Jackal Squad started a revolution all about jackals against Adabat, which had a history of discrimination against Jackals due to historical ties. Not much is known about Infinite besides him being the leader of the Squad, and that killing him would not only be beyond impossible, but pretty much suicide. His talent was so strong, it was thought that he was invincible not just on the battlefield, but anywhere."

"If only Mr. Infinite could do the one thing he's good at: appearing when he needs to!" a sudden voice said. I turned to the side to see…

 _"You,"_ I coldly said when I saw Egg Robo.

"Now now, Charmy! I would be punishing you for being a bad boy and holding that profile…" the robot said. "But I can't punish you or Mr. Vector even if he stole it! There's no rule that says you can't do that! Even if he stole and hid it like a coward. But who I CAN'T forgive is Espio! He thinks he's real clever breaking into my office before he dies as a last-minute revenge act, and I can't even get back at him because he's dead! Maybe I'll drag his corpse out and serve it as a last supper!"

I grew pale in the face. "You wouldn't…"

"Are these rules truly all you care about?" Wave asked. "You seem to eat, breathe, and sleep these rules."

"Because I'm a fair egg, ya dumb bird!" Egg Robo replied. "I have to follow them as strictly as you do!"

"Not even a little out of line?"

"Nope! On that note, wanna hear something cool?"

Wave and I looked at each other.

"What?" I asked.

"I think I should mention, now that we're reaching this point of the story where all the rules so far have been revealed to you, all of them were written by one of the participants of this game!"

I felt like my eyeballs were going to come out of my sockets. But before I could even reply...

"Oh man, I see that look on your face! 'Wahh, Egg Robo! Egg Robo! That can't be true!' Well, guess again, you clods! Because now's the time to reveal that when you all arrived at the main hall on your first day, seventeen people were there, no? But what if I told you there were really EIGHTEEN people participating in this game?"

Now my jaw dropped for real.

"Bet you like that, huh?!"

I thought back to Infinite. Now here Egg Robo was confirming that Infinite was the eighteenth student, just like Vector said…!

"Tell us: why are you only bringing this up NOW?!" Wave questioned.

"Cause of the ratings!"

"Ratings?"

"I just told you all that this killing game was being shown to everyone! And as a result, you all need to be on the same page as everyone else! It would be unfair to you all just like it's unfair to me if you all know something I don't! Make sense?"

Wave said nothing in response.

"Good! Glad we're seeing eye to eye! Well, you guys still have some time left, so be sure to spend these next few minutes finding all the clues you can!"

Egg Robo was about to vanish, but before he could...

"But before I leave… I got ONE more secret to share with you all. I'm so mad at Vector for what he did, I'm gonna say 'screw it' and reveal a secret he doesn't want other people to know! You know those gloves he wears, right? It looks nothing like yours, right? That's because Vector has these special gloves because his hands are super horrific!"

"Horrific?!" I questioned.

"Ho ho ho! No more questions! Wait until he comes back and then see if he wants to respond to that!"

Egg Robo vanished for real as Wave and I simply stood in the middle of Vector's room, not sure what to do or say.

I wrote Egg Robo's account as my fifteenth clue.

"Wave, now does this show you?" I said.

"Show me what?"

"That the body isn't Vector. It's Infinite."

"You sound certain."

"If what Egg Robo says is true, that Vector's hands are as horrific as he puts it out, then why did the body in the garden have his gloves off like it was nothing. Revealing a certain little jackal squad tattoo?!"

"So…" Wave crossed her arms. "You noticed."

"W-What do you mean?! You mean you knew this whole time and didn't tell me?!"

"Naturally. I'm not here to baby you, so I'm glad you have a bit of an eye to tell when something isn't right. Well, regardless, forget about Vector. We need to focus on Egg Robo's trap."

"His trap?"

"Gaia must have made you real slow if you're this dense. What did Egg Robo JUST say?"

"No more questions?..."

Wave glared at me.

"Sorry sorry, I'm kidding. I meant that there were eighteen students here. Infinite was a student here, and yet…"

"Egg Robo wants to imply that it was Infinite creating all of the rules here. Why would he say such a thing?"

"To make sure that we don't blame someone else?"

"Exactly. Knowing the dorkfest and shopper girl, they'd be quick to do such a thing. Infinite has always been related to this case, but now the question begs… did the mastermind kill him?"

"Why do you say that?"

"We're supposed to be having a trial. IF he killed someone and was a student, then he's a participant in this game. It's easy to come to that conclusion. But no… I'm starting to have some doubts. I think that Infinite isn't the culprit!"

I nodded my head. "Go on…"

"All this time, we believed Infinite the Jackal, the Ultimate Despair, was the true mastermind. After all, everything about him spoke mastermind. But if that's true… why would Egg Robo just casually drop his name?"

"That's actually a good point."

"Because I came up with it, of course. If Infinite gave us questions about him, it'd be a very bold move. In that sense, it's easy to write it off as 'Oh hey, we're going to pretend Vector did it,' and we all blame him-"

"Wave, I hope you realize I got SUPER lost like a minute ago because of how off the walls you got."

The swallow sighed. "Idiots, I'm surrounded by them… Okay, let me explain it SIMPLER: Had you not noticed that the body was Infinite, then we would have been led to believe that Vector died, and therefore, we would name Infinite as the culprit. But since you found out that WASN'T the case, Infinite isn't the blackened, but instead, the victim. Why do you think Egg Robo would reveal to us casually that Infinite was one of the participants in this killing game?"

"To lead us into a trap?... To make us pin the blame on Infinite and find out it was too late for us to realize that we were wrong when he reveals that he was the one who died?"

"Exactly."

When she put it like that, it made sense. Egg Robo wanting to lead us into a trap? Sure as heck wasn't the first time… But now this opened a huge can of worms: If Infinite is dead now, who really killed him? That was still the biggest question of them all.

"Well," Wave exhaled. "I think our work here is done. Besides, I think we need to do a little investigation of our own."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She held up the woodblock key. "Remember?"

* * *

And so, while the fake sun shone above us, Wave placed the key inside the keyhole of the locker near the vending machine with hot foods in it.

"Man, I'm kinda hungry…" I said.

"You just ate like, what, not even three hours ago?"

"You call three spoonfuls of oatmeal breakfast?"

"If you wanna get healthy? Yes."

Wave turned the key as the lock made a _CLICK_ noise. Opening it up, I wasn't sure what to expect. I expected to see a secret weapon, like a weight, nunchucks, hell anything except-

"Rings," I said as a pile of rings fell from the locker onto the floor. I picked one up and felt it, realizing it was the real deal.

"Is this someone's secret treasure chest?" Wave asked.

"More like can I have this-"

"Bee, Jet is supposed to be the greedy one, not you."

"Right. Still, it makes you wonder, why all these rings if we can't use them?"

"Not sure, but maybe…"

Wave reached into the pile of rings, pulling out a long sock that I'd see soccer players use.

"Gross," I said, sticking out my tongue. "Who'd be that disgusting? Wave moved the sock around, revealing… blood stains.

"Oh."

I wrote down the rings and the sock as my sixteenth and seventeenth clue.

"It's weird… why would THIS specific locker hide things related to this case?" Wave asked.

"Related? How is some rings and sock related?"

"I think that'll be revealed soon."

"Then why bother asking about it…"

"Because what was the key to this locker doing in Vector's room?"

My eyes widened when I realized what she meant. "Wave?"

"Forget it. Let's just move on."

"No, no no, I think we need to-"

"Well, I think we DON'T need to do anything. Now come on, we need to find out more information on the Jackal Squad."

"You think we have enough time to do anything like that?!"

"If we're fast enough, we do. Now stop your complaining. Tell me, you know where we can find information?"

"Y-You don't even know?!"

"You act like you certainly do."

"Ugh… the archive in the library."

"The archive? Hmm…"

* * *

We arrived at the archive and began taking out books and throwing them on the floor if they weren't what we needed.

"You think Egg Robo is gonna mind?" I asked.

"Not like I care," the swallow replied.

"You're speaking my language. Hey, is this it?"

I noticed a file whose header contained the same image as the tattoo on Infinite's hand, showing it to Wave. She crouched down to look at it and nodded.

"Yeah, that's it," Wave took the file and began to read. _"The Jackal Squad is a group of mercenaries originating from the jungles of Adabat. As the name implies, all members are Jackals, and they are mainly involved in anti-government actions such as domestic terrorism, and control of certain goods. The group boasts that one soldier is the equivalent to an entire army. Due to their strength, they have been paid by multiple governments and terrorist organizations to fight their wars."_

 _"Unbeknownst to most people however, the Jackal Squad disbanded only a year ago. Rumor has it that all members were killed, but other rumors say that certain members turn up in certain parts of the world. One noticeable member is Infinite the Jackal, leader of the squad. Due to his ties and his leadership, he was placed on the top of G.U.N.'s most wanted terrorists, and he was believed to have been killed due to this. However, certain sources close to the writer of this file has revealed that Infinite is still alive."_

My lips were dry as I read this.

"No matter how much I read on Infinite, I can't believe it," I said, shaking my head.

"But isn't it exciting? It's a different world than what you're used to. All I know is the world of racing and thievery, but Infinite and his squad knows the world of… pure villainy. No, I don't think I would describe it as villainy. I would describe it as the world as only a domestic terrorist would know."

Exciting wasn't really the word I'd use…

Before I could respond to that comment, I heard…

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

"Oh no…" I said. The monitor in the archive turned on as the zone emblem popped up. Egg Robo popped up on screen, with his stupid glass of wine in his hand.

 _"If you look at a glass of water, it's like you look at a reflection of life: empty, soulless, and yet, calming to look at. It could be used to describe so many other things, but I think life is the best comparison I can make! Anyway, it's time for your favorite part! Class trial time! You know where to meet!"_

The monitor turned off as I bit my lip.

"This again?" I asked.

"You of all people should be excited. You get to say your favorite little catchphrase. Now let's go, you'd rather not want to keep him waiting, no?"

I nodded as I followed Wave to the first floor.

* * *

Amy, Tikal, and Silver were already in the usual waiting room when they looked up to see Wave and I enter through the double red doors.

"There you guys are!" Silver said. "Man, seeing you two together like that is a rare sight!"

"If you get that kind of idea in regard to me and the bee, you're just ASKING to be the next victim," Wave threatened.

"I think we've had enough of these trials," Tikal replied. "I'd rather nobody be next."

"As would I."

"Still, I wonder where Vector is? Is he really dead?" Amy pondered, not aware of what Egg Robo had told Wave and I.

"She'll find out soon," Wave said to me. "Anyway, we should just wait here for Egg Robo. I suppose he won't be long."

But Wave was mistaken. We continued to wait for a minute, but he didn't pop up. One minute turned into two, two minutes turned into five, and five minutes turned into ten.

"Jeeeeeeeeeeeeez!" Amy complained, stomping her boot on the ground. "What's taking that dumb egg so long?!"

"Maybe he died again!" Silver said.

"I don't like to wish death on others, but Egg Robo is the only one I would wish divine punishment on!" Tikal added. Before another person could speak up…

"HELLO!" the robot said.

"Augh!"

"What's that reaction, Ms. Tikal? Did I scare ya? Huh? Did I? Did I?"

"Yes, and it WASN'T funny!"

"Eh, get over it, toots. You'll be scared by more things in life besides me!"

"Shut up and tell us why you made us wait!" Wave said, pointing at Egg Robo.

"Why I made you wait? More like why did YOU make me wait? I beat Tomatopotamus: Tomatoes Never Die in the time I should have expected you all to be in this room, and yet all you guys didn't even pop up! And I made sure to keep track of time too!"

"What do you mean, all you guys? We're all here."

"Tell me, Charmy. Did you forget your dad?"

"My… wait, what?!"

"Your dad!"

"My dad isn't here…"

"Not your real dad! I meant Vector!"

"Vector's my dad?"

"Augh, this is what I hate about you! Not only are you annoying, you also DON't get euphemisms and fandom jokes either! No wonder you're so unlikeable! What I'm trying to say is that-"

"I'm not here, right?"

My heart fluttered when I heard the gruff voice of someone dear to me behind me. I turned around to see Vector standing in the entrance.

"VECTOR!" I said, buzzing up to him and hugging him. The crocodile was caught off guard as he chuckled.

"Jeez, I didn't die ya know," he replied.

"See what I mean!" Egg Robo complained behind me. "It's like Vector is his dad or something!"

"OH MY GRAVY, IT'S A GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!" Silver yelled, hands on his forehead.

"Shut up," bemoaned Wave. "Besides, shouldn't there be a penalty for being late?"

"I'm here right now. I think that's grounds fer there NOT bein' a punishment. Besides, it don't say nothin' in the rules," Vector replied.

"It don't say nothin'? Man, not only is your grammar crap, but so is your ability to appear on time!" Egg Robo complained. "IT'S LIKE I HATE YOU MORE AND MORE!..."

Egg Robo's complaints went nowhere as he was ignored.

"Fine, ignore me! See if I care! I'll make you all regret it during the trial! Now go on and march onto the elevator! Go on! Go! Go!"

The robot vanished as Tikal sighed.

"He's driving me up the wall. I wish he stayed destroyed," she said.

"Look at you, Ms. Peaceful calling for more violence," Wave replied.

"I thought I explained myself!"

"Guys, aren't we gonna acknowledge that Vector's ghost is standing right in front of us?!" Silver continued to freak out.

"He's not. Now get on the elevator, dorkfest," said the swallow as she and Tikal got on. Amy shook her head.

"Still can't believe Rosie has a thing for him. He only disappoints me more and more… Nothing like Sonic…" she complained, getting on alongside the others. I wanted to go on with everyone else, but… I couldn't. I HAD to ask Vector where he'd been.

"Listen, Vector," I said. "Before we get on, I have a very serious question."

The crocodile was silent.

"Where were you? You used the chao key, didn't you?" I continued.

"I went to the second-floor dorms," Vector replied.

"T-The second floor?!"

"There's a few things I found out. Namely, there ain't any monitors or cameras there, so Egg Robo wouldn't be able to find me period. The second was that there's a shortcut to the second-floor dorms."

"A… shortcut?"

"D'ya remember that door at the back of the music room? The same one Blaze and Big tried to open? Turns out, that door leads to the second floor, and I was able to get it open. That's how I came back to the main floor without openin' up the gates."

"And why are you only appearing now?"

"Turns out, because I spent all mah time on the second floor, I didn't even know about the announcement or that a body was found."

"Then how did you find out?"

"Wanna hear the truth? Just now, I tried to do some of my own investigation and looked at the body on mah own before comin' here so I wouldn't be unprepared. Of course, I dun have EVERY detail."

"That doesn't seem very good for a detective…"

"Ya gotta make do with whacha got. Still though, sorry fer keepin' yeh all waitin'. And sorry fer disappearin' on ya. Better I appear now than never, no? But what's this 'bout a ghost?"

"Some of us think you were the one killed."

"…even though it's clearly Infinite?"

"Yeah."

"Listen, that's not the point. I realized somethin' 'bout this chao key I stole. See, the key is more useful than we think. It can-"

"Vector, Charmy, what are you two doing?!" Tikal yelled. "Get in here! I want you to explain to me where you've been, Vector!"

"Well, looks like I gotta comfort one of our friends. Oh joy, because I'm so good at that," the crocodile said. "Just tell me whacha already know durin' the trial, I'll see what kinda argument I can make from this."

I nodded. "Gotcha."

"Besides… this is probably the most important thing… fer me."

I kinda jumped hearing that statement. For him? What did he mean by that? Before I could ask, Vector had already entered the elevator, leaving me behind. I finally followed him as the doors to the elevator shut as the elevator shook. Silver sat in the corner, murmuring prayers as Vector tried to avoid telling Tikal much about where he was, Amy was staring into space, while Wave was reviewing the content in her PAD. Meanwhile, I myself just stared at the lights shining up and down my body as we descended lower into the underground.

Myself, Wave, Vector, Tikal, Amy, and Silver…

Were we really the last six survivors that were always meant to take on Egg Robo?

Or were we truly going to lose someone? I felt like we all came too far to fall to him, I would rather sacrifice myself to prevent someone from dying. Surely their ultimate talent could be used to stop Egg Robo compared to my ordinary self…

No, now wasn't the time to be self-deprecating. Because not only was I certain that we could all defeat Egg Robo…

It was because the elevator stopped.

The door opened as my eyes were suddenly blinded by the fluorescent lighting on the floor and walls. It reminded me of a stereotypical disco dance floor, which felt like the most inappropriate place to hold a trial, but this _WAS_ Egg Robo…

Before we could say or do anything, Egg Robo popped up.

"We wasted enough time as is! Hurry, hurry! Get to your assigned stand!" he said. While I was glad there wasn't another addition to the portrait collection, I wasn't looking forward to this class trial, because just like the last five, I knew that the curtains of despair opened once again. This would no doubt be another case of judgement, deception, betrayal, riddles, defenses, faith...

And a case that would lead to another deadly class trial!

Egg Robo grinned once we all got in our assigned stands, took his mallet, and brought the four sided monitor down from the ceiling, slamming his gavel down...

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	45. Chapter 6 (Class Trial (Part 1))

**(AN: Turns out, writing while waiting for online lobbies is actually a really helpful way to write! Who knew? Anyway, with us in the new trial, what can come out of this?**

 **Hope? Despair?**

 **One things for sure, we're getting closer to the end! I'm thinking maybe by March, we should be done, but here's hoping we can get done earlier! Enjoy the chapter!)**

* * *

 _What was planned to be a day of hope leads to a day of despair as Vector vanishes, and a mysterious body appears. The threads of despair spin and twine into the cloth of terror, and the trial to determine the mystery of the unknown student, Infinite the Jackal, begins…_

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL**

 **ALL RISE!**

Egg Robo did his usual as he cleared his throat and shifted into his chair, getting comfortable.

"Ahem, let's begin with a basic introduction of the class trial, so your votes will determine the results! The purpose of the class trial is to figure out "Who did it?". If you can find it out, only the blackened who committed murder will receive their punishment. But... if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone else besides the blackened, and the one who deceived everyone else will graduate!"

The robot yawned. "Y'know what? You kiddies sure know by know how this whole thing goes. I mean, six trials! You gotta admit, that's a good record! This time, I promise I won't interrupt! I'll leave this up to you guys! At least, you guys ARE smart enough to figure this out, right?"

"At least you know your place," Wave said. "Regardless, I think we need to first talk about the victim. As we know, the EggPAD doesn't specify who the victim is, so we need to make that clear."

"It's Vector! There's no other explanation!" Silver said.

"But…" Amy said, a strange look on her face. "Vector's standing right there."

"No! It's a ghost!

"Are you an idiot?! What about Vector makes you think he looks like a ghost?!"

"Yeah, he has like, legs. Don't ghosts have that like, swishy bit below their torso? You know the one I mean, right?" Tikal asked.

"It's because he's the true evolution of ghosts, that's why! You know that image that shows the evolutions of mobians? Vector is like that except it's the… ghost version!"

Wave sighed. "My brain can only take so much stupidity before it turns into mush, and frankly this is already being tested before this trial even begins…"

"So, what…" I said, confused. "Should I just prove that the corpse isn't Vector?"

The crocodile in the meantime simply stayed silent. While his face displayed no emotion, I couldn't help but wonder if he was amused or annoyed by this. Wave however, wasn't having ANY of that.

"Oh no, oh no no no NO!" she sternly said. "We are NOT wasting an argument on this! I know this silver hedgehog isn't so STUPID to think that Vector, who is CLEARLY standing in front of us, is a ghost. It's just… the fact that we even must pay attention to this tells me that for the rest of this trial, dorkfest here is nothing more than dead weight!"

"Hey, I'm not dead weight! I come up with good theories!" shot back Silver.

"Really now? You come up with good theories? Oh please. Jet could come up with better excuses than you ever could."

"But shouldn't we try to make him feel a little appeased?" Tikal asked. "I mean, I doubt he'll let it go. He seems absolutely convinced."

The swallow groaned. "Ugh fine, we'll play your little game if this will move the trial along. Even if it's the most mind-boggling thing ever… Alright, Charmy… tell us, how is this… GHOST, standing in front of us if the body that was blown up as Vector."

Well that one WAS simple. I imagine once we got to something that WASN'T idiotic, from here the trial wasn't gonna be this easy. But for now, there was only one answer to that question.

"The difference between Vector and the body in the garden is the gloves he wears," I replied. "There were no gloves anywhere on the body when it exploded, so if that's the case, Vector's hands should be exposed. But clearly, they're not."

"Satisfied, dorkfest? Now can you PLEASE shut up and let the actual intelligent people return the trial?" Wave asked.

"No!"

"What do you mean no?!"

"Because there's a chance that there could have been gloves prior to the explosion and they got burnt up!"

"I'll give you props for TRYING to act smart but trying is a huge difference from being smart."

"If you want an ACTUAL reason why…" I said. "It goes back to why Vector has on gloves. Egg Robo mentioned that Vector has on gloves to hide his hands due to it being, in his words, 'horrific'."

"Jeez, I wouldn't describe it like that…" the crocodile mumbled. "But yes, the gloves I wear are specially made fer me. Any other gloves would make it far too uncomfortable fer me to wear, so the ones I'm wearin' now are the only ones I can wear. Now, do yeh want me to write what I just said down and stick it up yer ass with super glue?"

"No need to be so cruel, I think I get it now!" Silver replied.

"Well I'm glad you do because this is something that should have been obvious from the VERY BEGINNING, BECAUSE HE IS STANDING RIGHT. THERE." Wave said, red in the face. "Tell me, Amy… what do you see in him?"

"Don't look at me!" the pink hedgehog retorted. "I don't know why Rosie loves him either! She just thinks of him as another Sonic when he's clearly a dollar store Sonic!"

"It's like you guys love ganging up on me today…" Silver bemoaned.

"I think we had our fun making fun of him," Tikal said. "Please, let's continue."

"Please, let's do, I'm ready to ACTUALLY move onto topics that have relevancy to this trial," Wave replied.

"Okay so, who's the victim?" Silver asked. "We should make that clear!"

"T-That… that's literally what I was going to open this trial up with before you started moving us off task with all of this ghost nonsense. Look, during this trial, do one thing for me, Silver: Actually grow a brain. Then maybe we'll let you consider interjecting. Now please, let us actually talk about identifying the body."

She was right, we had to start with that.

…and not with some ghost nonsense.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, Vector isn't dead…" Silver said. "And neither is he the blackened. Then... who did die?"

"There has to be some way to figure it out..." Tikal asked, arms crossed.

"Well, didn't the EggPad mention something about the face being burned being recognition?" Amy added. "And I remember something too! It mentioned that the victim couldn't be identified!"

"So, if we can't identify the body..."

"Then there's nothing we can do!" Silver bemoaned.

NOTHING we can do?...

"I'm not sure of that!" I yelled.

"Whoa, catchphrase change!"

"I say that because there is only ONE thing, we can use to identify the body. While it's true that the body got burnt, one part of the body was perfectly fine: the right hand. Specifically, on the right hand, there was a tattoo on there that read, "Jackal Squad"."

"Jackal Squad?" Tikal asked.

"Dun forget that at the top of the tattoo, the word 'commandant' was above the symbol," Vector said. My eyes lowered.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that was there and I never noticed it?..."

"Ya should really pay more attention sometimes…"

"What's the point of a tattoo anyway? What, was it some kinda hazing thing or something? I hear about that sometimes!" Amy said.

"Whoever the guy is would just do whatever just to get accepted into some kinda group?" Silver added.

"No," Wave growled. "First, what did I say about growing a brain? Amy, you're not helping. Second, the identity of the victim is hidden within that tattoo."

And of course, there's only one thing and person that can be connected…

"This tattoo exists because the body belonged to Infinite the Jackal, leader of the Jackal Squad, and you could say, their main commandant."

"So, what does that have to do with Infinite?"

"Likely, each member of the Jackal Squad gets physical proof on their body that they're a member of the group. Many gangs do the same thing too," Wave replied.

"And with that, it proves that the body belongs to Infinite!" I added.

"Wait a minute!" Tikal said. "Weren't we originally saying that Infinite was the one behind this?! I know we said he couldn't be because Egg Robo is still around, but now we have actual proof that he is dead!"

"Ho ho ho! You're all acting like someone trying to play Sonic the Fighters for the first time! Absolutely confused!" Egg Robo said. "You all guessed right! Our trial this time is to solve the murder of Infinite the Jackal!"

"Wait, so… you're saying the mastermind is dead… and yet, we have to have a trial… Man, I'm so confused! Can't we go back to investigate more?!" Amy whined.

"No, he's not implying that," Wave replied. "He's saying we were wrong in thinking Infinite was the mastermind."

"I mean… think about it: Ultimate Despair DOES sound like something dangerous; don't you think?" Tikal asked.

"…I don't think you're right, pacifist girl. Frankly, I don't think ANY of us were right. All this time, we saw Infinite not by his proper status, Ultimate Mercenary, but instead what we were told from Charmy: Ultimate Despair. In fact, he and I even got to look at Infinite's profile, and there was NOTHING about an Ultimate Despair status. Besides, despair is a state of being. You can't be an ultimate from a state of being. Charmy, who again did you say told you that Infinite was the Ultimate Despair?"

"V-Vector?" I replied.

"Of COURSE, Vector! Why WOULDN'T it be Vector?!"

Vector remained silent.

"So, Vector was wrong for the first time?" Silver asked. Tikal bounced in place.

"Then who in the world IS Infinite the Jackal exactly?! All we know is that he's the Ultimate Mercenary, he's the head of the Jackal Squad, and… that's it! He never appeared once and now that he has, he's suddenly dead!" Tikal exclaimed.

"In my drama shows, whenever a main character dies, it's very much shown in as much detail as possible!" Amy added. "And yet this isn't the case! What's going on?"

"If I had to guess, you don't see Infinite as someone who isn't important, right pinky?" Wave asked.

"P-Pinky? What's with the sudden name?"

"Because by then, I think you'd all have to realize that Infinite was a participant to this game just like the rest of us."

"Then who's the real mastermind?" Silver asked. "Infinite ain't it, and none of us are controlling Egg Robo now so… who is it?"

"I think it's the headmaster!" Amy pouted. "Why else would he-"

"The headmaster ain't got nothin' to do with it!" Vector suddenly interrupted.

"Oh? But how are we certain?" Wave replied. "Your information on Infinite was wrong, so how can we expect to believe that the mastermind has no connection to this killing game?"

"My information AIN'T wrong-"

"Okay okay, we get the point! Jeez, I'll give you time with the controller, just don't tell mom fer cryin' out loud!" Egg Robo said. "All you guys need to figure out who killed Infinite. Capiche?"

We were all silent.

"CAPICHE?!"

"Capiche…" we all reluctantly said.

"Look, we can come back to uncovering the identity of the culprit. But know this Vector:" Wave suddenly stared directly into the crocodile's eyes. "No matter, I will find out the truth. I will bet my lineage as a Babylonian on it if I must, anything to go against whatever plans you have."

"…and now, all comments from here on are banned, and you get one million years in fanfiction jail if you make an unnecessary comment!" Egg Robo said. "Now, allow me continue… The reason we're having a class trial right now is because a killing between the students has taken place. Now that you have that crammed into your little brains, go on and say it. Do it!"

"We're having a class trial because-" Amy, Tikal, Silver, and I said before Wave stopped us.

"You REALLY do not need to repeat him, stop it," she said. "Tell me, robot: you're saying that the victim AND the culprit is a student, correct?"

"So, it is true that one of us killed Infinite…" Tikal said with sadness clear in her voice.

"No! Maybe there's a mystery 19th student! It's probably Ashura the Hedgehog!" Silver said.

"Wrong piece of media, Silver! There's only 18 students who participated in this killing game!" Egg Robo replied.

"So, one of us DID kill Infinite?!"

"Who… who is it?" Amy asked. "Please, let's just get this over with. There's no reason trying to hide, Charmy will find you out regardless!"

"Unless Charmy is the one involved," Wave smiled.

"Huh?"

"Based on all evidence so far, who do you think is the biggest suspects in this case?"

I looked at the swallow with a dead stare, already knowing what she was talking about.

"…Vector and I, right?" I asked.

"What's yer reason?" Vector added.

"Oh, I have every valid reason to say so," Wave continued. "Just last night, I went to the garden. Now, for reference, I should mention that there was no body in the garden when I checked."

"H-Hey! How are we certain you didn't do it and that you're covering for yourself?" I asked.

"If I did do it, I think everything from my actions, to the way I speak, to various other tics would point to me being the murder. But I clearly don't, so let's continue. The murder took place after I left the garden if all these things are taken into consideration. Putting this into perspective, whenever the murder happened after I left, Egg Robo was found in the gym, and myself, Amy, Tikal, and Silver were there all night."

"Egg Robo was found there?"

"Ah, you don't know. That's right, we found a destroyed Egg Robo bot in the gym, and I spent all night dismantling it. I should also bring up that we were very careful about going alone, so whenever we had to leave the gym, we had to use the buddy system, even when going to the bathroom. By this accord, all of us have alibis except-"

"Charmy and I… That's where yer list of suspects comes from, right?"

"Right."

It seems like at this point, Vector and I were stuck in the mud. Unless we were able to clear our names, both of us were the prime suspects.

But how could I clear my name?

"Erm, I have something to say in regard to the alibi," I said.

"Are you raising an objection?" Wave said, brow raised up.

"Not so much raising an objection, but I want a better look at what time the murder took place. If we do that, we can at LEAST find a clue, no?"

"Fine, someone help him out."

"I will!" said Silver, hand in the air. "Wave and I can both confirm the body wasn't there after nighttime. If you gave me a rough estimate, I'd say… 10 pm!"

"The proper timeframe would be from 10 until we found the body, correct? So, like, 11 hours!" Amy replied.

"That's right! We found the body at 9 am after Rosie found it!" Tikal added.

"Now that it's clear that the time frame is approximately 11 hours, I should mention that I was asleep before the nighttime announcement, meaning by 10, I have an alibi," I replied. "But I met up with you all before 9!"

"How could I forget! Half an hour until 8! You helped me out in the kitchen prepare breakfast, and I can say with certainty you didn't go anywhere!"

"But from 10 till you met Tikal, you STILL don't really have an alibi, dude," Silver added.

"Look at you, playing detective. Keep this up and maybe you would have proven to me that you DID grow a brain, dorkfest," Wave replied. I ignored the swallow and continued to think about it.

10 till 7:30 am…

I had to prove an alibi! And if I didn't, well, there was no need to fret. All I had to do was prove that the murder didn't happen during the time I didn't have an alibi!

But that now brought up a new question: when EXACTLY did the body appear in the garden? And could I use this to my advantage?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"I should make it clear that there's a timeframe for the murder. 10 PM to 9 AM." Wave began.

"And Charmy doesn't have an alibi for that time period!" Silver continued. Tikal put her finger on her lip.

"From 10 to 7:30 at least..." said the orange echidna.

"That's plenty of time to commit murder. If you have any objections Charmy, go right ahead," Wave continued.

Wait a minute… I just remembered something.

I got out my PAD and looked through my clues. Flipping through each one, I stumbled across the clue about the sprinklers. According to Egg Robo, it said that they turn on each morning at-

I gasped. "This is it!"

"What is?" Wave asked, arms folded.

"The proof I need to show you all that I didn't commit the murder! You see, the murder couldn't have taken place as early as 10 PM. You see, there's something that happens each morning in the garden. Something that rhymes with… winklers!"

"Winklers?"

"Y-You mean the sprinklers, right?" Silver asked.

I nodded. "According to what Egg Robo told me, the sprinklers turn on at 7:30 am each day to water all the plants in the garden. If we take this into consideration, then that would mean the body would be completely wet if it was in the garden any earlier than 7:30!"

"W-Wait! Hold on, hold on!" Amy said. "I remember that the body was dripping wet! Wouldn't that mean that-"

"Nope."

"No?!"

"It was wet because of the water Wave and I used to put out the fire after the bomb exploded the upper half of Infinite's body. That still means that the body wasn't wet before 7:30 am, thanks to the murder happening after that time!"

"Oh… right, forgot about that! Sorry Charmy…"

"Which means that only the murder could have happened after they went off, and when they did, Charmy was with me preparing breakfast!" Tikal said.

"Hey, look at you man! Guess you did have an alibi!" Silver smiled.

But…

That still made me nervous. Sure, I cleared my name, but I wasn't in the clear.

Because what Wave said next only made my fears more real.

"Then if Charmy DOES have an alibi, the only one who doesn't is you, Vector," she said.

The crocodile continued to stay silent. Was he really Infinite's killer? Was the idea of him being Ultimate Despair so awful to Vector that he had to kill him? Before I could voice my concern, he spoke up.

"I wanna make one thing clear," he said. "I understand why ya all suspect me of bein' the murderer. I can swear on everythin' and anythin'. But I'm gonna warn ya now."

The crocodile suddenly took off his hat for the first time, all of us staring into his sharp eyes.

"If ya vote fer me as the murderer, the mystery of this zone and everythin' that's happened dies with me too. It's yer call if ya wanna do that. But I ain't gonna let any one of yeh vote for me!"

What… is he saying? The mystery of this zone? Does he know something that even I don't know?

He must have found it in the second floor. If he dies… he leaves us with nothing. Sure, the door to the second-floor dorms is unlocked via the music room but…

How much does he know?

"So, you're telling us you're not the culprit, I imagine?" Wave asked.

"I ain't! I have no reason to kill ANYONE. All of this is a trap!"

"A trap? Vector, I'm scared! Tell us what this means!" Tikal said.

"Stop being vague and tell us! You got no reason to be afraid!" Amy added, but Egg Robo silenced her.

"Ho ho ho! Doesn't this bring back old memories? Whenever you blamed me for everything? Gaia, I sure DON'T miss those days! Stop wasting our time, Vector! You can cry all you want about traps, and, if you're thinking about trap in THAT context, you're frankly disgusting and should go jump off a cliff! But if you mean a trap that the mastermind is pulling, your little trick ain't gonna work!"

"Shut the hell up! We didn't ask for your opinion!" shot Wave.

"Got it, queen Wave! Shutting up now!"

"Anyway, Vector, you had a reason to kill Infinite."

Oh no… Was it what I thought?

"This whole time…" she continued. "You assumed that Infinite was the Ultimate Despair, you know, the mastermind of everything. By killing him, you think you could stop that. Isn't that right? And yet… we found out that Infinite wasn't the mastermind. And here we are, ANOTHER trial where we must find a murderer, and sure enough, thanks to your actions, I think it's safe to say that we already found it."

"That's… his motive?" Amy asked.

"Well he DOESN'T have an alibi so it probably would be a good idea to take what Vector says with a grain of salt…" Silver added.

The crocodile continued to stay silent.

"Playing the silent game isn't a response, Vector," Wave said.

"I'm just gonna letcha know right now… if ya wanna suspect me, go right ahead. But am I REALLY the only one yeh should be suspectin'? Shouldn't someone like… Charmy, be another?"

I quickly turned to face him.

"W-What…" I flatly said.

"His explanation is insufficient."

"W-What are you talking about, Vector?!"

"Sure, it's easy to say the sprinklers didn't get the body wet, but that doesn't mean the murder happened when he said it did. There's a way the body could have avoided getting wet."

"Interesting…" Wave said. I was in pure shock now. What was he doing? Why was he throwing me under the bus?! I get that I said that he's the only one without an alibi but… this doesn't make sense! Was I…

Was I backstabbed?

Jet and Wave said so earlier in this game, not to trust anyone. Was… Was this now proof that I shouldn't have trusted him?

It turns out, staying in my thoughts wasn't a good idea once I heard Wave yell my name.

"Huh?"

"Did you not hear what Vector said?!" she rebuked.

"N-Not at all."

"Of course. Vector's arguing that there was a way to cover the body with something to prevent it from getting wet. Tell me, I'm sure you know PLENTY about that, no?"

The body was covered with something? No, he wasn't implying that… was he?

"I think I got it!" I said. "It's… it's the tarp, right? The same tarp Amy found in the supply shed?"

"Ya catch on quick," Vector replied. "All ya have to do is cover the body with the tarp, and there ya have it, the body can't get wet because the tarp protects it. That's exactly what the killer did. Did ya notice how one part was clean and the other wasn't? The wet part of the tarp was the one that got wet due to the sprinklers and was protecting the corpse from getting wet, and the clean side was the side that the body was touchin' and was keeping it dry. This proves that the tarp was used to prevent it from getting' wet!"

"And yet, all this effort, and for what?" Wave asked.

"To cloud the issue of when it took place. Obviously, if there was no tarp and it got wet prior to the murder, then we would know by then what time it took place. But by coverin' it…"

"We REALLY don't know when it took place…" Tikal said.

"Exactly! Only creatin' an excuse, just like how Charmy gave us!"

I felt sweat trickle down my back as my mouth was open. What was even going on anymore? Why was Vector doing this to me? Why did he want to blame this on me? Didn't he know I'm just as innocent as him?

No, forget about that! If the tarp was used like the way Vector said… Covering the body despite the fact there was a clear bloodstain…

"Wait, stop. Something isn't right," I said.

"Oh?" Vector said, skepticism in his voice. "And pray tell, what might THAT be?"

Geez, it's just like the last trial. He sure is going on the aggressive with this one. I guess this is what happens when you're a crocodile…

But still, I had to do whatever I could to refute that I was a killer! And that was to show that for the first time, Vector is wrong!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"By coverin' the body with the tarp, the killer prevented it from gettin' it wet," Vector began.

"So, because the tarp was dirty on one side, that means that same side was wet because the water from the sprinkler sprayed on the dirty part!" Silver replied.

"But on the underside of the tarp, it was spotless!" I refuted.

"Cause that side was protected from the water! Since it was facing down towards the body, of course it didn't get wet and dirty!"

"No, that's wrong!"

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT BEFORE SAYING I'M WRONG!"

"I don't need to think about that at all because the underside being clean isn't correct."

"Isn't correct?" Amy asked.

"Tell me, anyone here, what do you remember about the body before it was blown up? Specifically, what was ON it?!"

"On it? Uh… Oh!" Tikal gasped. "The blood!"

"That's right. There was wet blood on the body before it was blown up. If we can say that the body was covered with the tarp… why was there not a single drop on it?"

"Maybe the culprit washed it?" Silver asked.

"No, because you would have wanted to wash both sides instead of just one," Wave replied. "By washing both sides, you would have erased any evidence."

"Oh… oops."

"No, I dun think that's the case. First, think back to what the EggPAD said," Vector replied. "It mentioned how he was shot, and then stabbed in the same area where he was shot and was hit with blunt force. One of those could have been the way he died."

"I was curious about the shot part…" Tikal added. "How could he have gotten shot? The only guns in this zone are the guns in the locker room on the second floor. Could Infinite have died that way?"

"A machine gun shot is highly unlikely. Remember, you all saw what Knuckles looked like after he got shot by the machine gun back during our second trial," Wave replied. "No, I think it might be something smaller like a pistol."

"Then, do you think that's the cause of death?"

"Well, while it's not unlikely to think that's the case, think back to the multiple things that happened to the body besides being shot, such as being stabbed and blunt force trauma to the head. One of those could easily be the cause of death. You could theoretically survive one of those, even a bullet wound, although you'd have to be pretty lucky to do so."

"More importantly…" Vector said. "I'm thinkin' the cause of death might not even be stabbin'. After all, what if the blood we saw was some kinda camouflage?"

"Pardon me, you said camouflage?" Amy asked.

"It's true that the killer did use the tarp to cover the body, but what if the blood belonged to someone that WASN'T the victim? After all, the stab wound I imagine was several hours old. By then, blood wouldda dried up."

"S-Someone else's blood?! Whose blood could it be?!"

"Wait! Maybe it's like what Storm did!" Silver said. "Got some of the blood packs from the infirmary and poured it over the body, right?"

I could see Wave bite her lip from where I was.

"That's a good place to start, but it ain't it," Wave replied. "The blood was obtained from the garden. Not from the killer, but from someone else."

Someone else in the garden? There's nothing living besides plants and the-

I stopped.

Oh.

Oh GAIA.

PLEASE tell me that's not what the killer did.

"Vector… it… it's not the Chao, is it?"

I could hear Tikal loudly gasp. The crocodile nodded.

"All those scared Chao ya saw? It's because the killer took one of the Chao from the kindergarten, killed it, and spread its blood over the body," he replied. Tikal squeaked in response.

"How dare the killer do that! Don't they know how cute they were?!" Amy yelled.

"The poor little guys were so scared too!" Silver added. "I didn't know THAT was why!"

"And that explains why there's only four instead of five, right?" Wave asked.

"Who… who could be so cruel… to hurt such an innocent species?" Tikal whimpered.

"Someone who didn't wanna walk around and cause suspicion, that's who," Vector replied. "Remember, this was goin' on while Charmy and yeh were workin' on breakfast, Tikal. Had the killer gone out to get the blood from the infirmary, there was a possibility that yeh two wouldda seen them. So, they went with the best thing they got."

"Something still doesn't make sense," Wave replied. "The tarp came first to cover the body from it getting wet, then after the water was turned off, the Chao was killed and the blood was spread. However, since it was still fresh, how was it that the blood never dripped onto the ground? Only the clothing was covered in blood."

"I dun think the blood was applied at the scene, but before it happened."

"Before?"

"I wanna ask yeh: When ya discovered the body, the coat was on, right?"

"Of course."

"Since it was described that he had wounds on his body that was already old, let's assume he was stabbed and the blood had already dried up. The dried blood could have been cleaned, then with the blood gathered from the chao, was slathered over Infinite's body, and then to make it seem like he died via stabbing, the killer stuck the knife into him."

"Okay okay, please slow down, Vector!" Tikal said. "Can you repeat that sequence of events?"

"Yeah, it's getting too hard to follow!" Silver added. The crocodile sighed.

"Fine. Okay so… Infinite was killed in one of two ways: either by a gunshot wound, or blunt force trauma to the head. Regardless, both events still happened, and the murder took place before the sprinklers went off. Now, that's the important bit. The body was covered with the tarp, but after the sprinklers went off, that coat that Infinite was wearing… was put on by the killer!"

"Y-You mean to say that Infinite wasn't killed with the coat on?" I asked.

"Exactly. Now remember, a Chao was used to put the blood on the coat, so at this point, only 4 Chao are in the Chao Kindergarten. With all of this in the mix, from Infinite's cause of death, to the time the tarp was covered over the body and the stabbing was falsified, leads me to believe this was all done to disguise the time the murder had occurred."

So, from what he's saying… the order of events seems to go like this: First, Infinite is killed after Wave leaves the garden but before the sprinklers went off at 7:30 am and I woke up. The killer waited a while for the blood to dry up, and once it did, the body lay in the garden before the sprinklers turned on. After that, a Chao from the Chao Kindergarten was killed to falsify Infinite's cause of death by spilling the blood from the Chao on the lab coat Infinite had worn. To hide the gunshot, Infinite was stabbed in the same area so we likely wouldn't think about where he was shot once we read it in the EggPAD. All of this was done to make it seem like the murder happened after the sprinklers went off…

"So, with all of this, then I think it becomes possible that a murder could have happened earlier," Wave replied.

"But think about it: the tarp was over the body and the coat hadn't been placed on Infinite to fake his stabbing. Wouldn't that have meant the killer should have gone back after 7:30? I mean, you had to kill the Chao, get the coat, pour the blood over it, and stab Infinite, and surely by then, someone would have seen the killer," Tikal replied.

"Not impossible as ya think it is," Vector added.

"Huh?"

"The coat was already ready at the scene, meaning that all they needed to was to put the tarp over the body, then once that was done, put the coat on Infinite, cause I imagine the Chao was already killed. All the killer needed to do was to stay in an area that could keep them dry from the water, which I imagine wouldda been the shed."

"Maybe so but…" I was about to say before I was interrupted.

"Tikal, when ya arrived at the gym to deliver breakfast with Charmy, did ya stay together?"

"Huh?" the echidna asked. "I mean, of course we did. Well, except for one part."

"One part?"

"Halfway when we were there, Charmy got tired from the heavy lifting and asked to take a bit of a break and told me go on ahead. It probably wasn't a few minutes that I waited for him in the gym lobby so he could open the door for me."

"Ya gotta rough estimate?"

"Hm… two or three minutes maybe?"

My eyes widened. My arms were already arching before I even reached the gym, so I DID ask Tikal to take that break, but… I didn't realize she wanted to use that testimony against me!

"Hm… I think while he DIDN'T kill Infinite at that time, he musta done it before he arrived to meet Tikal and before the sprinklers went off, prepared the scene, and THEN somehow got lucky enough to take that break. It sounds coincidental, I know, but that does that prove that Charmy's innocence needed to be questioned," Vector smirked. Now my lips were drying, and I felt my hands completely clammy under my gloves.

"V-Vector! I don't know what you're doing at this point but s-stop! That's not-"

"Doncha even DARE tell me it's not possible, cause it is."

"Kh!"

"Unfortunately, the croc offers solid evidence, which means that yes, Charmy. We have all likely reason to see your testimony as inadequate," Wave replied.

…

I don't understand though. I tried so hard to prove to the others that I wasn't responsible, and yet… Vector was making it happen. Why… why was he doing this? Was this… his own way of backstabbing me? Had I suddenly become no longer useful to him to a point where he decided to get rid of me? Maybe he was still upset about what happened during our last trial that he wanted me to get a taste of my own medicine?

I just… I don't understand.

"So, we're back to square one," Wave replied. "With Charmy's alibi being useless, our suspects are still him, and let's not forget you yourself, Vector."

"Which one of them did it?" Silver asked. "I'm tired of playing untitled goose chase! How about we leave luck to heaven? Flip a coin!"

"No, we're not gonna do that, cause I just remembered something!" Amy said.

"Huh?"

"Do you remember the knife at the scene? I don't wanna call myself a skeptic but… isn't that the same knife I gave Charmy earlier this week?"

"Hey, it is!" Silver said.

I stayed silent, not reacting to the shock on my friends' faces.

"You don't seem shocked. Could it be that you perhaps noticed it earlier?" Wave asked.

"I… I did," I replied.

"So, you're admitting to us that you lied about it?"

"I'm… I'm-I'm not lying about it!" I stuttered. "It's just that…"

I stopped myself before I could continue. COULD I even tell them about what happened last night? Would they even believe me? With how my case was looking right now, they had every right to suspect me if I told them about what happened. I could see it right now: Wave and Vector would accuse me of lying, Tikal would at least believe me, Amy would probably at most question it, and Silver would ask about why I didn't get up and fight even though I was sick.

But… now that made me worried. Is it possible that I did kill Infinite, but my illness made me forget about it?

"That's suspicious! How is it coincidental that the knife happened to be the one Charmy had? Look! He's not replying to us truthfully! He's trying to get out of it by 'stuttering'! "Silver said, pointing at me. "I'm convinced! He did it! He killed Infinite, he's guilty, he did it!"

No… No, I didn't! I need to make this clear with everything I have so far that I'm not a murderer! That I didn't use that knife at all… that I wasn't the killer!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, let's get this out of the way right now:" Tikal said. "The knife we found in Infinite's body..."

"It's the same knife I gave to Charmy!" Amy added. The orange echidna sighed.

"It is, isn't it? I was afraid of that..."

"So, if he did have the knife, that makes Charmy the culprit!" Silver said.

"Oh, what, I had the knife and NOW I'm the culprit?!" I shot back.

"Well, the stab wound was the fatal blow, right? You used the knife you conveniently had and killed him!"

"Charmy, how could you?!" Amy said, gritting her teeth.

"How could I? I should be saying that to you, Silver, as clearly you haven't been paying enough attention this trial," I smirked. "Tell me, Silver, what have I said in this trial earlier?"

"Uhh…"

"It's true that Infinite was stabbed with the knife, but that wasn't what killed him! Remember? Either that gunshot or the head wound is what killed him!"

"You're just trying to divert from the question!"

"And you're not smart enough to realize that the killer put the coat over Infinite after he had already died! Now, while it's true that we're not sure which came first, the hit to the head or the gunshot was either one of the two methods that killed him prior to being stabbed!"

"And? So what? Maybe you would have stabbed him twice!"

Twice? Nope, that couldn't be it.

"The EggPAD states that there was only one stab. But notice how it says something interesting: stabbed in the same location where he was shot. This would mean that he was shot first, THEN stabbed. That proves that the stab didn't kill him!"

"W-Well… okay, maybe you're right."

"Get it, everyone? The knife was nothing more than camouflage set up by the true killer! I'm sure it was done to draw attention away from what killed him. I imagine when it exploded, we would have discovered the true cause of death: either being hit or the gunshot."

"What an interesting turn of events. The culprit wanted us to focus on the knife so we wouldn't think about anything else. Of course, it was all written down on the EggPAD…" Wave replied. "…but, with the knife there, we would have been compelled to say that was the cause of death. After all, being shot and having blunt force trauma to your head, and yet no blood of any kind sans a stab wound that was bloody? No wonder we all felt compelled to say the knife was what killed him."

"Before we continue, I have a question," Tikal asked. "What happened with the explosion? Why did it explode?"

"If you actually learn to do a magical concept called THINK, you would know the answer, pacifist girl."

"Jeez, if you're so smart, then you tell us!" Amy complained.

"I'll answer for you! It was probably caused by the roar of the Ilbis Trigger-" Silver said before Wave pointed at him.

"You stop right there," she interrupted. "Ugh, surrounded by fools of the most foolish kind. Go ahead, Charmy. Tell them otherwise we aren't going anywhere with this."

I frowned. " _What, making me solve it because you don't know it either? Glad to see you're silently admitting it_ _,"_ I thought to myself.

Regardless, there was only one explanation for the explosion…

"It had to do with a fragment found at the scene. Specifically…" I said, hoping for a cue from Egg Robo. When he wasn't responding to what I said. "Specifically…"

He continued to ignore me. "SPECIFICALLY!"

Egg Robo got interrupted midsnore by my yell, pushing a button on his chair as he went back to sleep. A picture of the bomb fragment appeared on the panel.

"See? This one. This fragment is the cause of the explosion!"

"Wait a minute… I'm getting flashbacks!" Amy said.

"You should be right in getting flashbacks, because this is the same bomb used in all Egg Robo robots to blow them up should we break the rules! It's the same one Wave dug out from the Egg Robo bot when she dismantled it."

"How could the bomb cause an explosion that violent?" Tikal asked.

"I don't think that's important, pacifist girl," Wave replied. "Regardless, I think the culprit's motive is becoming clearer. The killer used the knife to make it seem like he was stabbed, and we would blame it all on Charmy, who owned said knife. Now, while it's true there are two causes of deaths, one of them, a gunshot, wouldn't be likely. We can come back to what happened with that later, but now that I think about it, with all this talk of the killer and Charmy being framed, there's only one person I imagine benefitting from this. That's you, Vector! Our other suspect!"

Vector stayed silent.

"Wave, wait!" I said.

"Oh, you're gonna defend him, I bet? Even after he's been trying to set you up to be the murderer, you feel compelled to stand up for. Is that what it is, bee?"

"N-No, it's not that! I think that if we need to talk about something to continue this trial, we need to talk about the elephant in the room: how Infinite died!"

"We kept going back and forth on whether or not he was hit via blunt force trauma, or shot," Amy crossed her arms. "Which is it? Do you think there might be a clue on his body that could tell us which was first?"

"Fine, I suppose we should at least address that," Wave replied. "I'm sure something exists that'll show us what happened first."

She was right but… how could you tell what happened first? Nothing on the body could signal anything, but what about my clues? What do I have that could tell me what was first?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Well, shall we debate further?" Wave began. "We've gone back and forth about what the victim's fatal injury was, but we haven't yet come to a conclusion."

"That explosion wasn't the cause of death, of course…" Tikal replied.

"Yeah! The EggPAD said Infinite was totally dead before that happened!" Silver exclaimed.

"The knife wasn't the final blow, it was either a gunshot or getting hit on the head by something heavy," Amy said. "A gunshot is likely to kill you, considering that the EggPAD said he was stabbed in the same place he got shot."

"Yeah! And it was around the chest area! So that must be it! Unless the killer for whatever reason decided to hit him after he died, then blunt force trauma by a heavy object must be what hit him first!"

Wave shook her head. "Don't forget: the EggPAD also mentions that there were countless wounds over his body. We shouldn't forget about those when thinking about what the cause of death and weapon used to murder him was."

Silver seemed certain that it was his gunshot that killed him. I wouldn't lie: I'd be inclined to believe the same thing too. I mean, sure Infinite was the Ultimate Mercenary but even mercenaries aren't bullet proof.

If I were to think about it, my line of thinking would go like this. If Infinite was shot first, there's a likelihood that he could have survived. After all, from where the knife was in the body, it doesn't seem like it would hit any major organs. But if you hit him afterwards with a blunt object, that could finish him off. But if you see it in the first way… then Infinite would have died, and there would have been no reason to stab him. Infinite might not have been immortal to bullets, but I'm sure he knew a thing or two about taking them.

That had to have been it! All I hoped was that my friends would be on my side.

"No, that's wrong, Silver! I do agree that Infinite was killed by blunt force trauma, however, what I don't agree with is you saying that the heavy object used first!"

"You uh… wait, I'm confused. So, you think he was shot… but that didn't kill him? How is that even possible?" the silver hedgehog replied.

"Think back to where the knife was in his body. Around the chest area, no? However, what you might have noticed one thing we talked about was that he was stabbed in the same area where he was shot. Bearing this in mind, by looking at the position of the knife, you can tell that couldn't be it!"

"Charmy is right," Vector replied. "From where it is here, the culprit who shot Infinite was just a few centimeters from the heart and lungs. Had he been shot there, that wouldda surely killed him. If anythin', it's a bit impressive the killer had a trigger finger that effective."

"So, if I'm getting this straight," said Tikal. "The culprit shot Infinite to immobilize him, but used a blunt object on his head to kill him, correct?"

"You catch on, pacifist girl," Wave said.

"But wait, if that's the case, wouldn't it just be easier to just shoot him a bunch of times?" Amy asked.

"I don't think that's the case. I think the culprit did that to send a message to him of some kind. Of course, it's just a theory, so don't take my word for it."

"Okay so… next question: All this time, we've talked about him getting hit upside the head with a blunt object. But now I'm just more curious… what WAS the blunt object?"

"The EggPAD doesn't mention much about what could have been the blunt object. It could really be anything," Tikal replied.

"Maybe it was the pickaxe! Not like, the side you use for picking, but the handle part! Think about it, it's the most convenient thing you have if you're in the garden!" Silver said. Wave shook her head.

"Again, good theory, dorkfest, but I don't think that's it. Besides, that's not how it works. The handle has no strength. All the strength and weight lie within the head. Besides, we already know what it is."

"We… wait, we do?"

"Charmy, if you would so please."

Ugh, what was it with her always making me do it? I turned to face Vector, who STILL stood silent.

The true weapon used to kill Infinite? Well, there weren't that many things we found that COULD suffice as a weapon, but there was one thing that flashed in my mind. What we found in the locker on the roof: the pile of rings and a bloodied sock. A ring on its own is just as dinky as ever, but put a bunch in a sock, and you have a something blunt enough that could do damage, especially with each ring being made of metal. But who had the strength to be able to lift all that up?

I looked at Vector again and shuddered. No, he couldn't have been it…

But my thoughts and anxiety wanted to tell me otherwise. I couldn't let this eat me from the inside, so I ignored it and presented…

"The rings Wave and I found on the roof!"

"Rings? You mean Infinite was killed with money?" Silver asked.

"And not even through his own greed? Someone used money on him?" Tikal added.

"That's right!" nodded Amy. "How can some rings kill someone? Sure, they're made from metal but…"

"Put them all together, and what do you have?" Wave asked.

"I… I still don't get it."

Guess the sock really didn't let them know what REALLY was going on! Regardless, I had to make that clear!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Rings… our currency is made from such a very dinky material and frankly, cheap metal. But, it can deadly when misused... I think that's the murder weapon we're looking at," Wave began.

"Are you sure?" Tikal asked.

"You don't sound convinced," nodded Silver. "Do you yourself even believe that some rings could kill someone? You have to dive headfirst into it like a swimming pool if you want it to hurt you!"

"In the EggPAD, it mentions that there was a blunt object used to hit Infinite with. But surely if it was some rings… wouldn't there be a very large wound? A ring couldn't do that!"

"Then is there another murder weapon we don't know about?" Amy asked.

"There isn't one," I said. "Because a ring CAN do that!"

"H-How?"

"With maybe… a sock."

"A sock?"

"Inside the roof's locker, Wave and I found a sock under the pile of rings. Now, while you can't hurt someone with one ring, what happens in the case where you put a bunch of rings together in a sock?"

"Put… rings together? In a sock?" Amy asked. "Oh! Oh, oh! Now I get it!"

"How strong do you have to be to lift up all of that?" Tikal asked. "Sure, it's in a… sock but…"

"Besides, whose sock even is that? It seems like such a gross way to die!"

"But now you may be asking, what about the culprit who put the weapon in the locker?" Wave said, ignoring the two girls. "Well, there's only one person: You, Vector!"

"I ain't ever touched those lockers before."

"Oh no, don't even PLAY this game with me, croc. You ABSOLUTELY have."

"He… did?" Silver asked.

"Because, Charmy and I have proof, don't we?"

"Oh… I…"

I wasn't gonna lie, I was both partially taken back by Wave putting me on the spot, but also I was…

Hesitant.

If we argue about Vector having the key, this sealed his deal and would convince everyone else that he was the blackened. If he died, I had no one else left that I could trust on my gravestone.

"What's the matter, Charmy?" Wave asked. "Surely you haven't stooped so low that you would rather protect a murderer?"

"I agree, Wave. While I believe everyone should be given another chance, do something so heinous and you don't deserve forgiveness. I'm not saying Vector did it, I'm saying regardless of who it could be, you don't need to hold back for the sake of the murderer. You can tell us everything. Even… even the murderer would understand that."

"H-Hey, I don't wanna interject but, is there a rule over covering up a murder?" Amy asked.

"I wouldn't say a rule, but I will say what it leads to: the death of us all!" Wave finished, teeth gritting.

"D-Don't put words in my mouth! I remember!" I argued back.

"Then stop being afraid and SHOW us! Prove to us that Vector had the key!"

Vector continued to stay silent as I bit my lip. I felt sweet trickling down my body as my hands felt clammy. I was being pressured to sink Vector and… I… I… I don't want to do that!

But… I had no choice. It was either sink Vector or accept that we all die.

I closed my eyes and pulled out the evidence I needed: the woodblock key.

"It's this," I said.

"How in the hell does that prove anythin'?" Vector asked.

"Because… it was in your room."

"In… in mah room?"

Now I stopped. The way he looked, the way he sounded. It was like…

Like he didn't even know it was in his room.

"Don't play dumb," Wave growled. "The key is the final nail in the coffin. You tried so hard to escape from what happened that you left such a crucial key out in the open. For someone who prides himself on being a precocious worm, you pretty much signed your death warrant. Your 'fake' alibi, your motive, the fact that all through this trial, you've been trying to frame Charmy for the murder, it's all over, Vector. You've exploited the bee enough, now it's time to call it quits. Go ahead, explain the reason and prove me wrong. I DARE you."

I gasped. "W-Wait! Hold on!"

"Ugh, bee, shut up! Can't you see that he's using you? Forget about any kind of past relation you had and focus on the present! Do you think Vector cares about that now?!"

"It's not that it's just… I need to ask Vector something."

He raised his hat to look at me. "Vector… tell me the truth. Why were you in my room last night?"

"Why was I there?... Simple. Protectin' ya," he replied.

"Huh?"

"Ya heard me."

It was like time stopped. None of what I saw was a dream. The person with the mask really DID try to kill me, and Vector… Vector was there to stop it. He knew I was being attacked and came to my rescue… But during their struggle, I couldn't tell what was happening because I was in bed. Could it be…

Could it be that he really did kill Infinite for me?

I started to tear up. No, damn… I told myself I wasn't gonna shed anymore tears over this but…

I lost one friend to despair…

Was I REALLY going to lose another?

"Bee, you've had ENOUGH time to speak your mind," Wave said. "Frankly, I think it's about time YOU shut up too alongside dorkfest. All you want to do is believe in a murderer, and frankly, I've had enough. I think it's time we end this little trial right now and begin sentencing."

Vector raised his hand up. "Wait, stop! I'm warnin' ya RIGHT now, Wave! I ain't GONNA let you make this mistake!" he said, clear panic in his voice. "I ain't the killer!"

"Look at you, acting like a Clucky to its master," the swallow smirked. "I knew you and your bee friend were pathetic, but I never knew you two would sink THIS low. Maybe you two want to die together, seeing as you have a knack for defending murderers."

Now I started to growl. She was taunting us yet again. No, no! I can't keep letting her get to me like this! She WANTED to get a reaction from me, she WANTED me to argue Vector's case, only for this to turn around towards me. I now knew smarter than that.

But it seemed like Vector knew this too.

"Really? Talkin' 'bout me sinkin' low?" he asked. "Funny, I should be sayin' the same to yeh, Wave, as clearly ya know better than anyone else why I wouldn't do it. Go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong. _I dare ya."_

Now Wave was confused. "H-Huh? I… should know?"

My eyes were now wide now. What was Vector planning this time? Was there something we ALL missed?

And more specifically…

What DID Wave know?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"What in the hell are you talking about?" asked Wave. "I should know?"

"Correct," replied Vector. "I ain't the killer and ya know this."

"Wave, what are you hiding?" Silver glared at the swallow, who promptly sneered at him.

"Exactly! Tell us!" Amy added, the swallow surprised that she was backing up Silver.

"Let me guess, there's proof you aren't the culprit?" Wave asked.

"Also correct," continued the crocodile. "Ya say I hid my evidence of the crime in the roof's locker, then left the locker key in mah room. But COULD I have done that?"

The locker key in Vector's room? That's right… earlier, he looked confused at the fact that it was in his room… like…

He didn't know it was there because someone else put it there.

"There is!" I pointed at Wave. "Remember, this goes back to the key of the locker. It was in his room all this time, and YET… YOU had Vector's key this entire time!"

"So-So… So, Wave is the killer instead?!" Tikal asked.

"I… I…" Wave began to visibly sweat. My heart fluttered for a second. Was… was it about to be revealed that Wave was really the killer? She coughed and continued. "I see. That's what you meant. Because I had the key, you could have never gotten in."

"Yer right. Sure, I'm strong enough to break down the door but, hey, not only would yeh all notice, but Egg Robo says that's against the rules, no?" Vector asked. "Am I wrong, Wave?"

"Ugh… just THIS time, I am…"

 _"You were wrong earlier in the last trial though…_ _"_ I thought to myself.

"So, ya finally understand. No key, no way to get in."

You know how when someone says something so shocking, you kinda freeze as the world around you has inverted colors?

That moment happened to me as I realized what Vector just said.

 _"No key, no way to get in."_

 _"No **key** , no way to get in."_

Vector…

He didn't have HIS key.

He had the master Chao key he stole from Egg Robo.

I was in shock. Vector… lied. Only I knew he had this. But… why?! Vector lying… it isn't like him! Why was he doing this?

In fact, now that I think about it, everything about this trial seems so weird. We keep flipflopping on who the murderer is, we still DON'T know about how Infinite was shot if the only access to a gun any one of us can theoretically use is the gatling gun in the locker room. And more importantly…

I know Vector enough to know he wouldn't kill anyone. Neither would anyone else here. We've overcome so much despair, and for what? For us to kill again? Espio gave his life for us so, why would we kill?

Was Vector threatened because he really WAS the killer? Or… no. I had to think this through. A few possibilities sprang in my mind: either Vector was the killer and killed Infinite thinking he was the Ultimate Despair, he killed Infinite when the two were in my room last night, or… Vector isn't the killer.

In fact, he even said if we voted for him, the mystery behind EVERYTHING would die with him. Given that…

My eyes widened. Vector not only knew something we didn't, he specifically called it a trap.

Trap… trap… trap…

And once I put two and two together, it was like being enlightened.

This trial… was a sham. This trial was set up by the mastermind to trap Vector. Maybe… not even trap him, but trap all of us. Trap… me… too…

But… what was truth anymore? Is this all a trap set up by the mastermind? Or is Vector lying to get himself out of a situation he knows he couldn't get out of once he got exposed. I… I want to believe in Vector but… the idea of Vector getting his hands dirty didn't leave my mind, especially after what happened last night. And his testimony is a lie… All I could ask is…

Was it okay? Was it okay for me to expose the truth?

I thought back to what Vector told me about danger and risk.

Danger… risk…

I wasn't sure anymore.

Is Vector lying to me? Or is the mastermind lying to us all?

I stared at my hands as I felt the neon lights vibrate with my heartbeat. I didn't know what to say or do anymore. I just wanted someone to answer me…

 _Do I trust Vector? Or expose him?_

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**


	46. Chapter 6 (Class Trial (Part 2))

_This trial… was a sham. This trial was set up by the mastermind to trap Vector. Maybe… not even trap him, but trap all of us. Trap… me… too…_

 _But… what was truth anymore? Is this all a trap set up by the mastermind? Or is Vector lying to get himself out of a situation he knows he couldn't get out of once he got exposed? I… I want to believe in Vector but… the idea of Vector getting his hands dirty didn't leave my mind, especially after what happened last night. And his testimony is a lie… All I could ask is…_

 _Was it okay? Was it okay for me to expose the truth?_

 _I thought back to what Vector told me about danger and risk._

 _Danger… risk…_

 _I wasn't sure anymore._

 _Is Vector lying to me? Or is the mastermind lying to us all?_

 _I stared at my hands as I felt the neon lights vibrate with my heartbeat. I didn't know what to say or do anymore. I just wanted someone to answer me…_

 ** _Do I trust Vector? Or expose him?_**

* * *

 ** _And now, the continuation…_**

* * *

My heart of hearts told me to trust Vector.

But my mind told me that perhaps the idea that Vector was working against me, no, against US… it wasn't impossible to consider.

"Charmy…" I heard Wave say. I chose to ignore her, as the more I kept thinking about it, the more I kept sweating, the more panic filled my mind.

"No objections, Charmy?"

"I…" I bit my tongue and closed my eyes.

I...

I know he wouldn't kill. Vector always came to save me in the end. This time, I'll protect him. I had to believe in him!

"No. None at all," I replied.

But there had to be a secret somewhere. What was this trap specifically? Infinite appeared out of nowhere but… was there a reason Vector and I were the two primary suspects?

"So, you accept Vector's answer as fact," the swallow continued. I stayed silent. "I COULD buy that Vector didn't put the locker key in his room, but it still had to have been someone else."

I bit my tongue. I know that someone else DID put the key in his room, but the shitshow that would start once the others found out that Vector had the Chao key would be insane.

"But who could it have been?" Tikal asked.

"I mean we DO kinda know that Wave had Vector's key and Charmy did refute us saying he had no alibi so at this point, your guess is as good as mine," Silver shrugged.

"So… it's official?" Amy added. "Wave planted it there? N-Not that I'm saying you're the KILLER but…"

"I'd want to frame Vector, right? Yes, I may not LIKE the croc, but no, I wouldn't be so stupid to not only do something so risky, and for what? Besides, I have my solid alibi," Wave replied. "I was with you all through the night, and most of you went with me when we to the bathroom or when I went with Amy to get dinner with you all. There's only one more thing I can think of. Someone had the key on them, then at the scene, planted it there only to pretend that they "found" it."

My heart skipped a beat when I heard that. She… she was back to blaming me?! And…

I tried to look through all my clues. I… I was frantic. Surely, I had SOMETHING to prove that I didn't have it on me.

"It… it was Charmy?" Tikal gasped, hand over her mouth.

"Unfortunately, he's our only option at this point," Wave nodded. My blood drew cold as I dropped my PAD.

"N-No! Stop! Wave, you have it wrong! I never had the key!" I yelled. "Before going with such an accusation, l-let's think about it!"

"Think about what? What is there to think about?!"

"Haven't you realized this at ALL, Wave?! You make yourself out to be intelligent and yet, you haven't realized this trial is a sham!"

"A… sham?" Amy asked.

"Think about it! This trial is all about finding out who killed Infinite. But may I remind you that NONE of us knew about Infinite's existence until you all found the body, and when Vector told me! I didn't know what he looked like! All I knew he was a jackal and that he was Ultimate Despair! And yet he suddenly shows up dead just like that!"

I looked at Egg Robo who was silent but judging by how hard he was gripping his stand, it was almost like he wanted to… say something.

"B-Besides! Vector even said it's a trap himself! I've been thinking about it this entire time but… now I think I realize what the trap was! It was to kill either-"

"Okay, time's up!" Egg Robo said, hand in the air. My jaw dropped as soon as I heard that as I felt a sharp chill up my spine. Goosebumps overtook my skin due to the fear I had felt in that moment. "Everyone shut up now!"

"T-Time up?" I squeaked.

"W-Whaddya MEAN time up?" Vector yelled. "There ain't ever been a time up in a trial!"

"Because you're a dummy slow head, idiot Vector!" Egg Robo replied. "So, the start time had to be pushed back! So now it's time for voting time! Pick wisely, because you guys had a lot of disagreements this trial!"

"V-Voting time?" I was almost on the verge of tears. Everyone now thought I was the killer. And-and… and my… ex-execution… "P-Please, no! Everyone, STOP! LISTEN TO ME!"

"Who will be chosen as the next blackened? Now… what will it be? Will you make the right choice or wrong choice? What's it gonna be?!"

"Egg Robo is trying to confuse you ALL! He's set up everything to rig this!"

But I was ignored as the levers appeared.

"STOOOOOOOP!" I screamed, grabbing my antennaes and pulling on them. I… I refused to pick someone. None of us were the killer, but... when the levers all vanished, my heart sunk lower and lower.

Like the last five times, once everyone was done, the 'Egg Robo VOTE' slot machine displayed the same thing as with last time, only this time, when the reels of the machine began to slow down, it stopped a triple of… MY picture. 'GUILTY' was displayed in L.E.D. lights as rings shot from the machine. The slot machine rose up... and we knew that it was over...

When it did, I only could keep my mouth open. No words, no voice came from my mouth. Everything I had tried to do to prevent the others from voting from me, to show the others that I didn't kill him had failed. Everyone had picked me…

I…

I didn't want to die.

Didn't want to die… didn't want to die… **didn't want to die!**

…

Gaia, please…

 _Why? Why did this happen to us? To me?_

 _Why was I…_

 _…chosen to die?_

 **CLASS TRIAL #6**

 **END**

* * *

I….

I really WAS selected as the blackened. I couldn't even rebuke my sentence; I couldn't SAY anything. All I did was silently cry. Was this how the others felt when they saw they were the blackened? I collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily as I looked up.

"Why?..." I asked.

"I'm sorry bud, I just…" Silver said, head turned away from me. "I dunno!"

"Oh, Charmy! Please forgive me!" Tikal cried. "I panicked! And I… I didn't want to have to do this, I just!" she began to cry, likely feeling guilty at what she had done.

"I don't wanna die, Charmy!" Amy added. "I'm so confused by everything at this point, I had to follow along!"

Wave and Vector refused to say anything to me as I got up.

"Why is this happening to me?! You all have it wrong! I never-"

I was interrupted by Egg Robo. "Good job, everyone!"

"Good job?! What do you mean by good job?!" I retorted.

"Because they found the blackened. You!"

"I-I'm not the damn blackened! None of this makes sense!"

"On the contrary, this makes ABSOLUTE sense! You killed Infinite, soooooooooooo…"

"You of all people should know I didn't do it!"

"And you of all people should know that you can get on your knees and kiss my feet, but I won't do a damn thing! Time to end this like I usually do! The PUNISHMENT!"

"No… please, no! NO, NOO!"

I could only wonder what my execution was. What could an average guy like me even have for one?

I think even thinking about it made it worse than hearing the words 'punishment' come from Egg Robo's mouth. I felt frozen, like everything around me just vanished. The neon lights in the room just became blinding as I felt many butterflies in my stomach. I grabbed my stomach, taking deep breaths as I felt myself sweat.

I turned to face Vector, the crocodile looking angry.

"VECTOR! **HELP MEEEEEE!"** I cried, reaching my arm out to him. The crocodile turned to face away from me and growled.

"Fuck…" I heard him mutter from under his breath. "Charmy… I… I dun expect ya to forgive me. If yer angry with me from here on, I understand. This is mah fault."

"What are you saying?"

"Charmy… please…"

I could see a lone tear streak down his face.

"I'm sorry."

"You know what time it is! I've prepared such an EXTRODINARY punishment for Charmy Bee, the Ultimate Average Student! Or maybe, we should start calling him the Ultimate ANNOYANCE! Let's give it everything we've got! It's PUNISHMENT TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Egg Robo laughed, running up to his stand and slamming the button on his armrest. I felt time slow to a crawl as the lights in the courtroom dimmed, and I saw… MY sprite on the usual game over screen.

 **"GAME OVER**

 **Charmy Bee has been found guilty for the murder of Infinite the Jackal.**

 **COMMENCING EXECUTION!"**

I hear the walls behind me open, and now, I found myself in the position that four others have found themselves in before: a metal collar clamping onto my neck and dragging me inside the dark hallway. The sudden shock of everything put me into collapsed state, and when I woke up…

* * *

 _Charmy sat in a lone chair atop a piece of honeycomb inside of a beehive, many worker bees circling him holding pots of honey. The walls of the beehive dripped with honey and pollen as the bee was forced to watch the onslaught of worker bees circling him like ritual. It was then that he heard the sudden sound of a machine turning on from behind him. Unbeknownst to Charmy, the machine that had turned on was a barrage of fire, all planning to burn Charmy as soon as the chair he got on reached the exit of the honey hive._

 _A picture of Egg Robo laughing appeared over the fire party, laughing at the idea of seeing Charmy burn to death once he got close._

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _Disciplinary Worker Action_**

 _Charmy's entire body began to shake as he finally realized what had turned on. The bee tightly gripped onto the fabric of his pants, unable to move due to his arms and legs being bound. He looked up to see Egg Robo dressed as a bee, giving a lecture about the properties of being a worker bee as the other bees still circled him. Charmy's face turned pink as the other bees began to mock and laugh at him._

 _As the chair floated towards the machine, Charmy began to very much clearly hear fire shooting out from behind him. He could feel the intense heat from behind him, and at this point, Charmy had dug his nails into his pants so much that he had now scratched the skin of his legs, starting to pull small bits of blood. Inching closer and closer, he grits his teeth and tensed his body tighter than he ever had before in his life, his face turning blue as he held in his breath to prevent himself from screaming. The sweat on his forehead dripped down his face and onto the desk, the bee only wanting his execution to be over with as quickly as possible_

 _But just as the chair was just a few inches from the blazing inferno, the picture of the laughing Egg Robo on the fire machine suddenly glitched up and was replaced with an image of Ditz's panel screen. The fire from the machine shut off as Charmy, who still felt the heat, looked up to see that all the fire had turned off. He looked around, wondering what had happened only for one more surprise to occur: as the bee finally reached the exit of the beehive, his desk and the honeycomb he was on fell off from the hive, falling down a narrow hole as Egg Robo and the other worker bees only watched as the bee fell into the dark abyss._

* * *

 **MEANWHILE**

Egg Robo returned to the court room, angry and jumping up and down in one giant meltdown. "What is THIIIIIIIIIS?! What just happened?! I SHOULDDA WATCHED THAT LITTLE RUNT **BURN**!"

"T-That was-!" Tikal gasped, unable to finish what she said.

"D-Ditz?!..." Wave added. "But… how? I thought Egg Robo destroyed it!"

"Maybe Ditz is a ghost too? A… good one?" Silver asked.

"Ditz?! You mean that stupid computer Charmy and the rest of you all made friends with?! Don't tell me that THING uploaded a virus onto the network to prevent this from happening! Damn it! You let these kids get away with ONE thing and they somehow find a way to bite you back!" Egg Robo complained. Vector walked up to the robot, smirking.

"So, looks like ya made a miscalculation. Nah, not now did ya make one. Yeh did so from the beginning."

"What are YOU trying to imply?! Gonna make fun of me for Charmy's botched execution, huh? Gonna act like a smug piece of crap, I bet?!"

"Dun act like a baby. Yeh shouldda never underestimated us in the first place. We six are here fer a reason: to beat yeh!"

"So what?! You already act like you've won! Charmy might not have been executed, but he's gone now, and so is that stupid Ditz program! And with no more bee idiots here to ruin the mood, we have characters the fandom likes in this zone now! You're never gonna see him again, and frankly, I don't think you'd want to either! Stuck in a trash pit in the rest of his life like so many bees before him… if anything, THAT'S a better punishment than burning him to death!"

Vector looked at the robot as he began to manically laugh.

"But don't think this is the end, Vector! No siree!" Egg Robo said. "As long as you five are still here, despair still prevails! And just because Charmy is gone doesn't mean I'm gonna go light on you all! In fact, I'll make sure the despair you feel will be even greater than anything before! Just watch your back, Vector… who knows, you might be next! HO HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Egg Robo disappeared, his laughter filling the walls of the courtroom as the five just stood there, not sure what to do or where to go. It was only when Wave walked up to the crocodile and grabbed his shoulder did commotion start.

"Croc, what the hell is going on?!" she asked. "Why did Ditz appear? Tell me!"

"I'll tell ya: the mastermind is cornered."

"Cornered?" asked Amy.

"…I can't explain it now but… I think yeh'll understand what I mean soon enough."

"Well, what should we do?" Tikal asked.

"Return to yer rooms fer the time bein'," replied Vector.

"I guess I should be asking, what are YOU going to be doing?"

"…nothin' of utmost importance."

"I'm a bit confused but… hell, I'll take anything to get outta here," Silver replied as he, Wave, Amy, and Tikal left the courtroom and headed towards the elevator.

Vector looked at the open wall where Charmy was dragged, and brought out the Chao key from his pocket.

"I gotcha, buddy. Hang in there."

* * *

 _Charmy found himself floating in a black, empty void. Devoid of sound, devoid of light, and devoid of humanity._

 _How long had he been here? Where is this place? It wasn't heaven, it wasn't hell, could it be purgatory?_

 _No, that meant that he was dead. It didn't feel like he was dead, but more so… out of a plane of existence._

 _The pain he felt was extreme, something that he couldn't put into words. And yet, he still felt like he was alive._

 _How could that be? Who or… what was keeping him alive? Why didn't he get executed? And more importantly…_

 _Why was there a light rushing towards him at a speed so extreme, he couldn't even react to it, even if just for a second?_

* * *

Charmy took a deep breath as he suddenly opened his eyes. He looked around frantically, realizing that he was back in the courtroom once his eyes had adjusted to the neon lights. He could hear a clear ringing in his ears as someone was saying his name very faintly. It only was when he looked around that he heard Wave calling his name in anger, and his hearing returned to normal.

"Quit looking like you just got up from taking a nap!" she scolded. "You have no objections to what Vector said, no?"

It was when he heard those words that he stopped. He realized where he was: he was back in the trial, back at the point where Vector had testified that he couldn't put the key in his room because Wave had his key.

Except that he could.

Realizing what would happen to him if he let Vector by with his lie, Charmy took a deep breath and knew what to do: Expose his lie.

"I do! Because there's a lie in Vector's statement!" he yelled, pointing at the crocodile.

"A… lie?" Wave asked, the others looking shocked. Vector's eyes widened as he realized what the bee said but said nothing to refute it.

"Isn't that right, Vector?!"

"Yeh said it, not me. Prove that I'm lyin'. Let's hear it then."

 _"Time to unveil the truth to EVERYONE here!"_ the bee thought to himself.

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"I didn't have to the key to mah room, because I gave it to Wave. I'm sure yeh all agree to that, right?" Vector began.

"You did definitely do that," Wave nodded.

"In that case, then there's no way I couldda gotten into mah room."

"So, when Charmy and Wave searched Vector's room, there's no way Vector had placed the key in there earlier?" Silver asked.

"The only explanation I got is that someone put it there. Ya gotta better idea?"

"The Chao key," Charmy said, lowering his eyes.

"The what?" Amy asked.

"Vector has a key on him that allows him to open EVERY door in this zone, which he had taken from Egg Robo! That means he can use it to get into ANY room he wants!"

"Charmy… what… what have ya done?" Vector said, grabbing his arm and growling.

"W-What?"

"Yeh… yeh gave the mastermind what they asked for. Ya fell for the trap. I… I was stupid enough to believe… ya wouldn't fall fer it."

"You admit to killing Infinite?!" gasped Tikal.

"I ain't done nothin' 'bout his death. Just… realizing that there's no way to win anymore. This trial was a trap, and Charmy fell fer it. I guess… ya all know what this means."

"Y-You… Vector, no! VECTOR, NO! YOU MEAN… I?!"

Vector turned his back from Charmy as the bee now began to shake, realizing what he had done.

"Okay, time's up!" Egg Robo said, hand in the air. Charmy's jaw dropped as soon as he heard that. Goosebumps overtook his skin due to the fear he had felt in that moment. "Everyone shut up now!"

"T-Time up?" he squeaked. "What do you mean MEAN time up? There's never been a time up in a trial!"

"Because Vector's a dummy slow head idiot, so the start time had to be pushed back! So now it's time for voting time! Pick wisely, because you guys had a lot of disagreements this trial! But I guess you already all know who the blackened is, don't you? HO HO HO HOOOO!"

The levers appeared and Charmy bit his lip. He didn't want to pick someone. None of his friends were the killer, but... he didn't even have to make a choice when the levers all vanished, his heart sunk lower and lower.

Like the last five times, once everyone was done, the 'Egg Robo VOTE' slot machine displayed the same thing as with last time, only this time, when the reels of the machine began to slow down, it stopped a triple of Vector's picture. 'GUILTY' was displayed in L.E.D. lights as rings shot from the machine. The slot machine rose up... and everyone knew that it was over...

But Charmy wanted nothing more than to take the fall for Vector, knowing this was all his fault.

 **CLASS TRIAL #6**

 **END**

* * *

Vector was silent, back turned towards everyone as Egg Robo laughed.

"In the time it took me to learn that video game movies with designs by hack job executives that don't give a damn can actually be good if you bring in people who care about the source material to fix it, it took you guys to find the next blackened!" he said.

 _"Vector really… did kill Infinite?"_ Charmy asked himself. _"But… no! He wouldn't! I thought exposing his lie would… it would lead Vector finding a way to turn this around on Egg Robo, but-!"_

"VECTOR!" he screamed out, reaching out towards him. The crocodile didn't respond to any of his calls, and then, that's when Charmy started to cry. He realized HE caused Vector's death, and now had to live with it.

"You know what time it is!" Egg Robo called out. "I've prepared such an EXTRODINARY punishment for Vector the Crocodile, the Ultimate Detective! Let's give it everything we've got! It's PUNISHMENT TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Egg Robo laughed, running up to his stand and slamming the button on his armrest. The lights in the courtroom dimmed, and the curtains opened to reveal Vector's sprite on the usual game over screen.

 **"GAME OVER**

 **Vector the Crocodile has been found guilty for the murder of Infinite the Jackal.**

 **COMMENCING EXECUTION!"**

Charmy heard the walls open as a metal collar clamped onto Vector's neck, dragging him inside a dark abyss and to his execution site…

* * *

 _Vector sat in a lone chair atop a pile of small grassy land inside of a swamp, many feral crocodiles circling him, waiting for their chance to feed on him. The fog around him made it hard to see, and the crocodile could only sweat as he watched his fellow crocodiles look at him: their prey. It was then that he heard the sudden sound of a machine turning on from behind him. Unbeknownst to Vector, the machine that had turned on had brought down a tangle of live wires, all planning to electrocute him as soon as the chair he got on reached the exit of the swamp._

 _A picture of Egg Robo laughing appeared over the party of wires, laughing at the idea of seeing Vector get electrocuted to death once he got close._

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _Disciplinary Detective Action_**

 _Vector's entire body began to shake as he finally realized what had turned on. The crocodile tightly gripped onto the fabric of his pants, unable to move due to his arms and legs being bound. He looked up to see Egg Robo dressed as a crocodile, giving a lecture about crocodile reproduction as the other crocodiles still circled him. Vector's face turned pink as the other crocodiles began to mock and laugh at him._

 _As the chair floated towards the machine, Vector began to very much clearly hear the live voltage from behind him. Vector couldn't feel the electric fields around him, but this made him even more worried because he wasn't sure how close he was. At this point, Vector had dug his nails into his pants so much that he had now scratched the skin of his legs, starting to pull small bits of blood. Inching closer and closer, he grit his teeth and tensed his body tighter than he ever had before in his life, his face turning blue as he held in his breath to prevent himself from screaming. The sweat on his forehead dripped down his face and onto the desk, the crocodile only wanting his execution to be over with as quickly as possible._

 _Before he could rip the fabric from his pants, the wires contacted Vector's body. The loud screams from the crocodile being drowned out by the massive number of electric sparks that jolted through his body. All the crocodile could do was shake in place; his skin being burned by the second as the live electric volts shocked through his body. When the chair finally left the swamp passing through all the wires, Vector lay limp on the desk, foaming at the mouth and his entire body fried and burned, no movement of any kind coming from his body._

* * *

 _That was how Infinite's trial ended._

 _Charmy still didn't know if Vector was truly innocent, but the truth was lost forever. Everyone stopped thinking about it, and eventually, so did Charmy._

 _Infinite's trial came and went, and sure enough, so much despair had been installed in the remaining five that a pact had been made: no more killing, no more wanting to get out. All five of them: Charmy, Wave, Amy, Tikal, and Silver swore to live forever among the walls of Green Hills. At first, Egg Robo was beyond fuming, giving them motive after motive, but once they told him they'd live here forever, he just… stopped. Eventually, the group found Egg Robo's destroyed body by a note which told them that he'd been destroyed forever, but that they'd be here forever._

 _And this would stay true, as the five grew older, celebrated birthdays, and even had kids amongst each other (despite Amy eventually dying at the age of 23 due to "unspecified causes")._

 _Charmy looked around him, the son he had birthed with Tikal and the daughter he had birthed with Wave running around the old dining hall he had once used to eat meals with Vector and Espio. He knew peace, but only within the walls of the zone. Peace, but only for him, his friends, and his kids. Peace and hope… peace and hope, peace and hope…_

 _This was peace and hope_

 _Hope and peace was this_

 _This was peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope peace and hope_ _p̶e̶a̴c̸e̸ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̶h̷o̷p̸e̸_ _p̶e̶a̴c̸e̸ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̶h̷o̷p̸e̸_ _p̶e̶a̴c̸e̸ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̶h̷o̷p̸e̸_ _p̶e̶a̴c̸e̸ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̶h̷o̷p̸e̸_ _p̶e̶a̴c̸e̸ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̶h̷o̷p̸e̸_ _p̶e̶a̴c̸e̸ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̶h̷o̷p̸e̸_ _p̶e̶a̴c̸e̸ ̷a̶n̸d̶ ̶h̷o̷p̸e̸_ _p̶̤͊̾͘̚͝ȩ̵̟̈́͋̚͝a̵̢̳̮̩̎c̸͍̹̬̥̀̾ĕ̴̩̱̼̖̹̇̉̏̋ ̴͓̥̖̉͛a̶̡̺͒n̶̬͎̠̥̝̈́̒̃͠͝d̸͇̝̟̠̰͊͊̃ ̵̛̹̩̠̀̔h̷̢̡̠̜̏̉͐̔̕͜ŏ̸̟̤̽̍̕͘ṗ̷̮̙͚̥̻ę̵̺͙͓̄͐̓͠ͅ_ _p̶̤͊̾͘̚͝ȩ̵̟̈́͋̚͝a̵̢̳̮̩̎c̸͍̹̬̥̀̾ĕ̴̩̱̼̖̹̇̉̏̋ ̴͓̥̖̉͛a̶̡̺͒n̶̬͎̠̥̝̈́̒̃͠͝d̸͇̝̟̠̰͊͊̃ ̵̛̹̩̠̀̔h̷̢̡̠̜̏̉͐̔̕͜ŏ̸̟̤̽̍̕͘ṗ̷̮̙͚̥̻ę̵̺͙͓̄͐̓͠ͅ_ _p̶̤͊̾͘̚͝ȩ̵̟̈́͋̚͝a̵̢̳̮̩̎c̸͍̹̬̥̀̾ĕ̴̩̱̼̖̹̇̉̏̋ ̴͓̥̖̉͛a̶̡̺͒n̶̬͎̠̥̝̈́̒̃͠͝d̸͇̝̟̠̰͊͊̃ ̵̛̹̩̠̀̔h̷̢̡̠̜̏̉͐̔̕͜ŏ̸̟̤̽̍̕͘ṗ̷̮̙͚̥̻ę̵̺͙͓̄͐̓͠ͅ_ _p̶̤͊̾͘̚͝ȩ̵̟̈́͋̚͝a̵̢̳̮̩̎c̸͍̹̬̥̀̾ĕ̴̩̱̼̖̹̇̉̏̋ ̴͓̥̖̉͛a̶̡̺͒n̶̬͎̠̥̝̈́̒̃͠͝d̸͇̝̟̠̰͊͊̃ ̵̛̹̩̠̀̔h̷̢̡̠̜̏̉͐̔̕͜ŏ̸̟̤̽̍̕͘ṗ̷̮̙͚̥̻ę̵̺͙͓̄͐̓͠ͅ_ _p̶̤͊̾͘̚͝ȩ̵̟̈́͋̚͝a̵̢̳̮̩̎c̸͍̹̬̥̀̾ĕ̴̩̱̼̖̹̇̉̏̋ ̴͓̥̖̉͛a̶̡̺͒n̶̬͎̠̥̝̈́̒̃͠͝d̸͇̝̟̠̰͊͊̃ ̵̛̹̩̠̀̔h̷̢̡̠̜̏̉͐̔̕͜ŏ̸̟̤̽̍̕͘ṗ̷̮̙͚̥̻ę̵̺͙͓̄͐̓͠ͅ_ _p̶̤͊̾͘̚͝ȩ̵̟̈́͋̚͝a̵̢̳̮̩̎c̸͍̹̬̥̀̾ĕ̴̩̱̼̖̹̇̉̏̋ ̴͓̥̖̉͛a̶̡̺͒n̶̬͎̠̥̝̈́̒̃͠͝d̸͇̝̟̠̰͊͊̃ ̵̛̹̩̠̀̔h̷̢̡̠̜̏̉͐̔̕͜ŏ̸̟̤̽̍̕͘ṗ̷̮̙͚̥̻ę̵̺͙͓̄͐̓͠ͅ_ _p̶̤͊̾͘̚͝ȩ̵̟̈́͋̚͝a̵̢̳̮̩̎c̸͍̹̬̥̀̾ĕ̴̩̱̼̖̹̇̉̏̋ ̴͓̥̖̉͛a̶̡̺͒n̶̬͎̠̥̝̈́̒̃͠͝d̸͇̝̟̠̰͊͊̃ ̵̛̹̩̠̀̔h̷̢̡̠̜̏̉͐̔̕͜ŏ̸̟̤̽̍̕͘ṗ̷̮̙͚̥̻ę̵̺͙͓̄͐̓͠ͅ_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ _p̸̤̹̦͖̦̩͔̫̔̎̄̐̇͂̓e̸̢̗̜͔͎͚̖̳͕̯̖̠͈̮̬͘a̴̲̗̦͙̗͎͔̤̓̑̍̈̈̏̈̔͗̓͐͜ç̵͓͙͎̟̉̐͗͊͝ẻ̸̼̗͈̝̖̘̲̞̦̭̈̾̈́ ̷̢̧͓̪̭͈̜͍͉͓͍͇̅̆͗͛̆̃́͋̕͜͠ͅȧ̶̢̟͖͖͛͗͗̌̕͘ṉ̸̡̖̐̈̃͗̈͋̊d̶̢̧̢̛̮̯̭̭͔̥͗̈̒̂̃̿̀͝ ̵̧̆͜ẖ̴̢̡̨̛̞̦̭̥͖̩͚̫̲͈̮͋̓̂͌̓́͝o̶̧̢̼̞̥̻̬͖̭̜̙̖͚̟͒͜͠p̷̫̱̈͠e̶̡͖̗̔̇͒̓̆̇̿̽_ p̷̶̲̟̝̝̤͇̗̖͕̃ͤ̆͛̉̐̀͒̑̈̾̄ͦ̓ͥ̈́̈̚͡ȩ̐̀̆ͬ̆̒̈́̿͑ͪ́҉̷̰̘̬̙͙͍̹̭̻̱̞̤̞̟͡a̶̫̩̭̺͎̻̦̞̰̬̮̟̘͕̯͚͖̱͐̀̂ͨͣ̏͌̽̊̃̎̂͊ͣ͊́c̡̡̮̪͕̥̰͇̣͇̩̮̰͍͇̥̩̮̣̪ͤ͛̓ͤ̐͑́̿̄ͅe̮̭͚̩̣̥͚̭̮͕̺͖̬͂̐̎̓̍ͮ̍́͛̋̃ͥͨ̽͛̿͝ ̰̬̦̜͔̿̽͂̀͂ͯ̉͊͊̿́͆͛ͯ̒̓̋͜͟ã̻͚̤̩͌ͩ̐͆̿͌̋͒͐ͨ̓ͪͯ̿͡n̴̴̡̠̩̜̠̻̜̰̼̭͍̠̤̫̞ͮ̏ͮͮ͂̔ͪ̅̃̃̂͂̊͘ͅd̢̈̇̉͂̀͏͏͏͈̠̜͕̱̙̥͉ ̱̦̯̫̜̣͈̻̏̅̆ͯͤͤ̑̀̀̚͘h͂ͦͣ҉̵̛̙̼̭̰̰͈͚̳̖̫̲̥͓̬͉̭ô̸̷̜͖̠̜͎͈̝̮̙̙͔͇ͤͫ̒̂͜͟p̵̧̨̭̥̱͎͇̞͉̽͗͌ͫͤͫ̄ͨ̎̊̀͞ͅe̵͎̫̜͚͙̜̜̩͇͐ͯͮ͐͌̈͋ͭ͘͜ **p͕ȩ̐̀̆ͬ̆̒̈́̿͑ͪ́҉̷̰̘̬̙͙͍̹̭̻̱̞̤̞̟͡a̶̫̩̭̺͎̻̦̞̰̬̮̟̘͕̯͚͖̱͐̀̂ͨͣ̏͌̽̊̃̎̂͊ͣ͊́c̡̡̮̪͕̥̰͇̣͇̩̮̰͍͇̥̩̮̣̪ͤ͛̓ͤ̐͑́̿̄ͅe̮̭͚̩̣̥͚̭̮͕̺͖̬͂̐̎̓̍ͮ̍́͛̋̃ͥͨ̽͛̿͝ ̰̬̦̜͔̿̽͂̀͂ͯ̉͊͊̿́͆͛ͯ̒̓̋͜͟ã̻͚̤̩͌ͩ̐͆̿͌̋͒͐ͨ̓ͪͯ̿͡n̴̴̡̠̩̜̠̻̜̰̼̭͍̠̤̫̞ͮ̏ͮͮ͂̔ͪ̅̃̃̂͂̊͘ͅd̢̈̇̉͂̀͏͏͏͈̠̜͕̱̙̥͉ ̱̦̯̫̜̣͈̻̏̅̆ͯͤͤ̑̀̀̚͘h͂ͦͣ҉̵̛̙̼̭̰̰͈͚̳̖̫̲̥͓̬͉̭ô̸̷̜͖̠̜͎͈̝̮̙̙͔͇ͤͫ̒̂͜͟p̵̧̨̭̥̱͎͇̞͉̽͗͌ͫͤͫ̄ͨ̎̊̀͞ͅe̵͎̫̜͚͙̜̜̩͇͐ͯͮ͐͌̈͋ͭ͘͜ p̷̶̲̟̝̝̤͇̗̖͕̃ͤ̆͛̉̐̀͒̑̈̾̄ͦ̓ͥ̈́̈̚͡ȩ̐̀̆ͬ̆̒̈́̿͑ͪ́҉̷̰̘̬̙͙͍̹̭̻̱̞̤̞̟͡a̶̫̩̭̺͎̻̦̞̰̬̮̟̘͕̯͚͖̱͐̀̂ͨͣ̏͌̽̊̃̎̂͊ͣ͊́c̡̡̮̪͕̥̰͇̣͇̩̮̰͍͇̥̩̮̣̪ͤ͛̓ͤ̐͑́̿̄ͅe̮̭͚̩̣̥͚̭̮͕̺͖̬͂̐̎̓̍ͮ̍́͛̋̃ͥͨ̽͛̿͝ ̰̬̦̜͔̿̽͂̀͂ͯ̉͊͊̿́͆͛ͯ̒̓̋͜͟ã̻͚̤̩͌ͩ̐͆̿͌̋͒͐ͨ̓ͪͯ̿͡n̴̴̡̠̩̜̠̻̜̰̼̭͍̠̤̫̞ͮ̏ͮͮ͂̔ͪ̅̃̃̂͂̊͘ͅd̢̈̇̉͂̀͏͏͏͈̠̜͕̱̙̥͉ ̱̦̯̫̜̣͈̻̏̅̆ͯͤͤ̑̀̀̚͘h͂ͦͣ҉̵̛̙̼̭̰̰͈͚̳̖̫̲̥͓̬͉̭ô̸̷̜͖̠̜͎͈̝̮̙̙͔͇ͤͫ̒̂͜͟p̵̧̨̭̥̱͎͇̞͉̽͗͌ͫͤͫ̄ͨ̎̊̀͞ͅe̵͎̫̜͚͙̜̜̩͇͐ͯͮ͐͌̈͋ͭ͘͜ p̷̶̲̟̝̝̤͇̗̖͕̃ͤ̆͛̉̐̀͒̑̈̾̄ͦ̓ͥ̈́̈̚͡ȩ̐̀̆ͬ̆̒̈́̿͑ͪ́҉̷̰̘̬̙͙͍̹̭̻̱̞̤̞̟͡a̶̫̩̭̺͎̻̦̞̰̬̮̟̘͕̯͚͖̱͐̀̂ͨͣ̏͌̽̊̃̎̂͊ͣ͊́c̡̡̮̪͕̥̰͇̣͇̩̮̰͍͇̥̩̮̣̪ͤ͛̓ͤ̐͑́̿̄ͅe̮̭͚̩̣̥͚̭̮͕̺͖̬͂̐̎̓̍ͮ̍́͛̋̃ͥͨ̽͛̿͝ ̰̬̦̜͔̿̽͂̀͂ͯ̉͊͊̿́͆͛ͯ̒̓̋͜͟ã̻͚̤̩͌ͩ̐͆̿͌̋͒͐ͨ̓ͪͯ̿͡n̴̴̡̠̩̜̠̻̜̰̼̭͍̠̤̫̞ͮ̏ͮͮ͂̔ͪ̅̃̃̂͂̊͘ͅd̢̈̇̉͂̀͏͏͏͈̠̜͕̱̙̥͉ ̱̦̯̫̜̣͈̻̏̅̆ͯͤͤ̑̀̀̚͘h͂ͦͣ҉̵̛̙̼̭̰̰͈͚̳̖̫̲̥͓̬͉̭ô̸̷̜͖̠̜͎͈̝̮̙̙͔͇ͤͫ̒̂͜͟p̵̧̨̭̥̱͎͇̞͉̽͗͌ͫͤͫ̄ͨ̎̊̀͞ͅe̵͎̫̜͚͙̜̜̩͇͐ͯͮ͐͌̈͋ͭ͘͜ p̷̶̲̟̝̝̤͇̗̖͕̃ͤ̆͛̉̐̀͒̑̈̾̄ͦ̓ͥ̈́̈̚͡ȩ̐̀̆ͬ̆̒̈́̿͑ͪ́҉̷̰̘̬̙͙͍̹̭̻̱̞̤̞̟͡a̶̫̩̭̺͎̻̦̞̰̬̮̟̘͕̯͚͖̱͐̀̂ͨͣ̏͌̽̊̃̎̂͊ͣ͊́c̡̡̮̪͕̥̰͇̣͇̩̮̰͍͇̥̩̮̣̪ͤ͛̓ͤ̐͑́̿̄ͅe̮̭͚̩̣̥͚̭̮͕̺͖̬͂̐̎̓̍ͮ̍́͛̋̃ͥͨ̽͛̿͝ ̰̬̦̜͔̿̽͂̀͂ͯ̉͊͊̿́͆͛ͯ̒̓̋͜͟ã̻͚̤̩͌ͩ̐͆̿͌̋͒͐ͨ̓ͪͯ̿͡n̴̴̡̠̩̜̠̻̜̰̼̭͍̠̤̫̞ͮ̏ͮͮ͂̔ͪ̅̃̃̂͂̊͘ͅd̢̈̇̉͂̀͏͏͏͈̠̜͕̱̙̥͉ ̱̦̯̫̜̣͈̻̏̅̆ͯͤͤ̑̀̀̚͘h͂ͦͣ҉̵̛̙̼̭̰̰͈͚̳̖̫̲̥͓̬͉̭ô̸̷̜͖̠̜͎͈̝̮̙̙͔͇ͤͫ̒̂͜͟p̵̧̨̭̥̱͎͇̞͉̽͗͌ͫͤͫ̄ͨ̎̊̀͞ͅe̵͎̫̜͚͙̜̜̩͇͐ͯͮ͐͌̈͋ͭ͘͜ P̷̶̲̟̝̝̤͇̗̖͕̃ͤ̆͛̉̐̀͒̑̈̾̄ͦ̓ͥ̈́̈̚͡Ȩ̐̀̆ͬ̆̒̈́̿͑ͪ́҉̷̰̘̬̙͙͍̹̭̻̱̞̤̞̟͡A̶̫̩̭̺͎̻̦̞̰̬̮̟̘͕̯͚͖̱͐̀̂ͨͣ̏͌̽̊̃̎̂͊ͣ͊́C̡̡̮̪͕̥̰͇̣͇̩̮̰͍͇̥̩̮̣̪ͤ͛̓ͤ̐͑́̿̄ͅE̮̭͚̩̣̥͚̭̮͕̺͖̬͂̐̎̓̍ͮ̍́͛̋̃ͥͨ̽͛̿͝ ̰̬̦̜͔̿̽͂̀͂ͯ̉͊͊̿́͆͛ͯ̒̓̋͜͟Ã̻͚̤̩͌ͩ̐͆̿͌̋͒͐ͨ̓ͪͯ̿͡N̴̴̡̠̩̜̠̻̜̰̼̭͍̠̤̫̞ͮ̏ͮͮ͂̔ͪ̅̃̃̂͂̊͘ͅD̢̈̇̉͂̀͏͏͏͈̠̜͕̱̙̥͉ ̱̦̯̫̜̣͈̻̏̅̆ͯͤͤ̑̀̀̚͘H͂ͦͣ҉̵̛̙̼̭̰̰͈͚̳̖̫̲̥͓̬͉̭Ô̸̷̜͖̠̜͎͈̝̮̙̙͔͇ͤͫ̒̂͜͟P̵̧̨̭̥̱͎͇̞͉̽͗͌ͫͤͫ̄ͨ̎̊̀͞ͅE̵͎̫̜͚͙̜̜̩͇͐ͯͮ͐͌̈͋ͭ͘͜**

* * *

Outside of Green Hills, an echoing silence pierced the ruins where all the trash from the zone was sent. Rocks, pillars, steel beams, even food were amongst the many things that piled all over the ruins of garbage all over the place. No noise was made anywhere, and except for the lone red door leading back to the zone, the trash pit was devoid of color.

Suddenly, from underneath one pile of rubble, some of it began to shake as a hand shot out from the rubble. As it felt around to see if it was safe to get out, it quickly jolted its hand back into the rubble due to cutting itself on a steel beam. Before long though, the hand shot out again and pushed itself out of the rubble, revealing Charmy gasping for air.

* * *

"Man…" I breathed heavily, trying to get the taste of gravel out from my mouth. "What a dream… Me having kids and all that? Goodness, I'm not ready for THAT life yet. I-"

I stopped myself there. I was about to touch my forehead due to the headache I was having, only to feel a large crack in my helmet.

"It… saved me from my fall. But aw… at the expense of my helmet?" I complained as I frowned, remembering how mom had gotten it for me for my birthday. "Couldn't it have been my bee pin at least?"

I hissed as I felt my body aching. "Okay, I need to get outta here now. My… everything hurts."

I put my hand on a piece of rubble, moving my legs as I slowly got myself up from the rubble I was trapped under. I continued to hiss as I felt myself getting scratched and scraped from all the rocks my legs were under. Finally pushing myself out, I was about to jump off the rumble, only to tumble onto the ground due to the debilitating pain I felt.

I lay on the ground, looking at everything around me.

"…I…I'm stuck here."

It didn't hit me until now the reality I was now in. I thought this was all just some kinda dream but now that I lay on the cold hard ground, the smell of garbage and death around me, I realized I was in some kind of dump, something that told me this wasn't a dream. Barely any light shined in the dark abyss, turning this dark cave into something out of a nightmare.

"Is this where…" I said, getting myself off the ground. "…Egg Robo throws away everything?"

Finally, getting on my feet, I realized I had to do something. I looked up at the chute where I came from, and knew I had to get back. But as I started to flap my wings, I hissed as they throbbed with pain.

"Okay, okay, new plan. I'll just wait here until my wings get better, then I'll try again. But how long will that be? Will I even have food and water here? Would my wings even be okay in the first place? What if I can never fly again?"

I shook my head, trying to get rid of the thought of never being able to leave this place.

 _"No no, think about hope! You always believe in hope when times are troubling!"_ I told myself. But no matter how much I tried to, the reality of the situation I was in sunk in harder.

And then I suddenly remembered… IT.

Ditz saving me from my execution. I think I knew why Ditz wanted to connect itself to the network. Not so that it could dig up more in our situation, but to prevent me or Vector from dying. Of course, why Ditz didn't come to Vector's rescue in that dream of mine, I wasn't sure. But… I only felt more determined to get out. Ditz, like Espio, gave its life for myself and my friends. Was I going to waste my life here like that?

No, it wanted to save us from a world of despair.

But first, I had to find a way to get out without using my wings…

I looked around the various piles of rubble, trying to see what I could salvage. I found pieces of an airplane engine, discarded food, black trash bags, multiple desks, and plenty of wood planks amongst many others. However, I found nothing that would have helped me get out of here. Grunting, I put my finger on my chin, looking around.

"How about the door?" I asked, running up to the large red door and pounding on it. I expected it to be locked, and wouldn't you know, it was locked. I sighed, sitting on the steps.

"Am I really gonna have to look through garbage here for food?" I snorted. "Like gee wow, this isn't a video game. I'm not gonna find a burger in the garbage, am I?"

Even looking for water didn't help much either. There was one water bottle I found, but the water in it looked so dirty that I'm pretty sure all the bacteria in it would kill me before I could even get refreshment from it.

I sat down by a rubble pile, I looked around, wondering if I should give up.

"No, no! I'm still alive!" I told myself. "Ditz saved me, and Vector… Vector will come and save me! I just know it!"

…at least, I hope he will.

With not much to do, I lay my back on the rubble pile, shivering as I tried to go to sleep.

"It's been an exhausting day…" I mumbled to myself. "Maybe I can actually dream… normal… dreams… this time…"

* * *

I collapsed soon afterwards, not caring that the place I had chosen to sleep was dark, rough, and smelled horrendous. I had to make do with what I had.

In fact, I spent the entire day asleep, hoping that SOMETHING would happen, hoping that some miracle would fall from the sky and save me like a superhero swooping in to save his love interest from falling down a huge skyscraper. What happened next… well, I guess you could say that's what happened to me.

Suddenly, I heard a very large thud and a yell. The sudden sound bolted me up from my sleep as I looked around, interrupting my dream where I was forced to work with a cop solving a crime in a Spagonian restaurant and I looked fuzzier and more realistic than I already do. I hid behind the rubble pile as I watched a large figure rise from a pile of trash, crouching as it stood still. It reminded me of the monster movies I used to watch with my dad when I was younger, hiding in his arms when the monster got too scary for me.

Only, instead of a horror movie monster, the figure turned around, only to reveal that it was…

Vector.

…with a banana peel on his head.

He stood still, sniffing the air around him. "Gaia, it reeks in here," he said, grabbing the banana peel off him. "Charmy, where are ya?"

The crocodile looked around, trying to find me. I quickly bolted from my hiding position, rushing as fast as a bullet and hugging him.

"VECTOR, YOU'RE OKAY!" I said, hugging him tighter by the second.

"Heh heh," he chuckled, hand on my hand. "I should be sayin' that to ya-"

Then, I slapped him, the peel falling from his head.

"Ow, what the?!"

"That's revenge for letting me go through something scary like that!" I argued back.

"Jeez, I didn't realize yeh were still mad."

"Well I do KINDA want an explanation."

"Oh, dun worry, yeh'll get one. But first, I brought ya this. Figured ya might be hungry."

Vector took out some Tupperware from his coat, revealing a piece of bread, honey spread, some pieces of beef jerky, and a bottle of water. Stars grew in my eyes as I was handed the food.

"OH MY GOSH, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" I said happily, ripping the Tupperware from Vector's hands.

"Hey, ya ain't a rabbid Chao!"

"I thought I was gonna be stuck here with no food!"

"At least act a lil' civil!"

I coughed. "Thank you, Vector." I proceeded to sit down, taking the honey spread and spreading it over my bread. I bit in, enjoying the savory taste.

"Mmm… so good…"

"Mind talkin' with yer mouth closed?"

"Sorry!" I proceeded to open my water bottle, taking a swing from it. "Hey, by the way, how did you get down here?"

"What else?"

Vector pulled out the Chao key from his coat pocket.

"Oh right…" I continued. "But… why?"

"…to make amends."

"This is about the trial, right?"

"That's right. Ya knew I wasn't tellin' the truth, and ya kept yer mouth shut to protect me. But I couldn't do anythin' to help ya. When I saw ya call and reach out fer me, I felt so useless in that moment. In fact, I really felt like I was the reason yeh were gonna die. I was more than thankful that Ditz intervened but… I'm the reason ya got stuck here. I… abandoned yeh when ya most needed me."

"Don't say that! I'm alive, aren't I?"

"But I did it to save mah own skin! Ya protected me, but I couldn't do the same to ya…"

I frowned. "I… feel like that way when it comes to Espio. I felt like I could have protected him, and yet…"

"Look, I ain't gonna make excuses. Yeh slappin' me earlier, I COMPLETELY deserve that, and frankly, I agree that I'd call it even between us now. I got a slap on yeh, and ya got on one me."

"Guess we're two dorks in a pod?"

Vector chuckled. "Guess so. But, look, there was a reason I was tryin' to cover mahself."

"It has something to do about what you said during the trial, right? The truth of this zone?"

Vector nodded. "And why I came to this zone in the first place."

"Huh?"

"Originally, I had no interest in coming to Green Hills. But there was somethin' that changed my mind."

"What was it?"

"I forgot what it was, but only recently that I remembered. Tell me, Charmy. D'ya remember the first thing that happened to ya when ya went through the warp ring to this zone?"

"Well, I remember the environment turning red and fainted, then waking up here."

"So was I. Only, I felt like I wasn't… mahself, in a way. At that point, mah memory was gone. I remembered my title as Ultimate Detective, I remember mah past, but… WHY I came to Green Hills just slipped from mah mind."

"How could you forget that one small thing?"

"I'm not sure, but ain't it strange? It's almost like we all forgot certain details."

"What are you saying?"

"That all this memory alteration… it was the work of the mastermind."

I sat up, looking at the crocodile intensely. "W-What do you mean?!"

"I think the mastermind stole our memories, MAH memories. The mastermind knew that somehow, I would be a distraction to their plans. So, the mastermind stole mah memories, likely not expectin' me to get 'em back."

"…but then you learned of Infinite?"

"Likely, I had to guess we only learned of Infinite recently because as the mastermind realized that I had been slowly gaining back mah memory, they realized they needed a way to off me."

"T-To off you?! Then, that means-?!"

"Infinite was deliberately hidden from all of us so the mastermind would personally kill me if they felt that I had been crossin' a line."

"No kidding…"

"But, as ya know, Infinite didn't come after me. He came after yeh."

"In my room at night, right?"

"I think the mastermind was always scared of me, but I think over time, the mastermind has been growing more fearful of yeh. Likely, the target changed from me to yeh."

"And when he failed?

"…the mastermind killed Infinite, naturally. He failed his task."

"That explains the bullet, right?"

"Sure does. Now ya might be askin', 'what 'bout the trial?' That can be explained quickly: that entire trial was designed to kill either me or yeh. Preferably, I imagine the mastermind wanted me dead instead, knowin' that yeh'd feel so much despair from losin' both Espio and me, ya likely would break. But… ya didn't take their trap, and everyone believed ya killed Infinite."

"So, the mastermind went ahead with it, knowing I wasn't the MAIN target?"

"Hey, ya might not have been it, but the mastermind wants ya good as dead. So, it's still a win win fer them."

"But why couldn't we have all worked together to prove that it was the mastermind?"

"If we did, the mastermind wouldda noticed that yeh all were helpin' me. Besides… I've been doin' a bit of thinkin'… and I've been comin' to a theory: what if the mastermind was one of us?"

"W-What?!"

"Don't take what I say as the truth. It's just a theory. But, ya can't deny it's a theory we can't throw out, right?"

"I mean, with so few of us… how?"

It made sense though… if Vector really believe the mastermind was one of us, who COULD he trust? Could… could he truly trust… me?

No wonder he didn't try to pin this on the mastermind, knowing they were the true culprit. That wouldn't have been what they wanted. Was this to bait them out instead? Give the mastermind a false sense of victory only to sweep it from under their feet? Too many theories ran through my mind, none of which were making sense the more I thought about it.

"Of course, dun think I couldn't trust nobody. I think of all people I could trust, it'd be yeh."

"Me? How so?"

"Everythin' 'bout yeah screams 'not the mastermind'."

"I'm gonna take that as a bit of an insult…"

"It ain't, I promise ya."

But I thought back to the dream I had when I was sick. The words, "I have to stay here" stuck in my mind. Vector looked at me with a concerned look.

"What's wrong?"

I wanted to open my mouth and tell him but… I didn't feel like it amounted to anything. It WAS just a dream after all.

"…it's nothing."

"Are ya sure? This ain't the first time ya hid somethin' from me."

"I promise you."

I felt a little guilty keeping it from Vector but, it probably amounted to nothing.

"I just wanna let ya know that despite everythin', I still trust ya. I'm just… I guess yeh could say I'm not used to relyin' on others."

"I know you trust me. You falling into a bunch of garbage and bringing me food proves it."

Vector smiled, almost as if he wanted to laugh out loud.

"Hey, by the way," I continued. "What was your reason for your investigation? Like, why did you come to Green Hills?"

The crocodile looked at me before looking at the ground. "Mah sole purpose? To find someone here."

"To… find someone?"

"The headmaster of Green Hills."

And then, what he said next made me drop my last piece of beef jerky that I had in my hand.

"…mah uncle."

"Your… uncle?!"

"I… If ya dun mind, I kinda wanna talk 'bout mah family history, fer a bit. Mah dad died when I was 'bout… three? I think? Anyway, after his death, I was given to mah uncle so he could raise me. He did his best to raise me and become the father figure I couldn't have thanks to mah dad's death. Course, when I was that young, I was pretty much oblivious to him bein' the headmaster of Green Hills."

"So that explains why you got mad when Ditz theorized that the headmaster was the mastermind…"

"It was like the moment that finally brought back mah memories piece by piece. No one ever brought up the headmaster like that until now, and when it happened, it's like I remembered his face. Look, Charmy, ya dun think the headmaster is the mastermind, right?"

"I mean-"

"Do ya?"

"Can I answer the question at least?"

"I'm askin' 'cause I ain't sayin' that to protect him, or 'cause he was mah family. I only said that based on everythin' I found in the headmaster's office."

"…Vector, please tell me what you saw in there."

The crocodile let out a deep sigh. "The entire room was a mess. Folders, papers, books, so on and so on, they all lay on the floor just destroyed and dumped without care. It was like someone who didn't know what the room had had been in there. And if I had to guess, that someone was an individual who didn't like what the room contained."

"The mastermind?"

"Right on the money. Dun take it from me though, all the proof lies in the Chao key. That's why I went to the second-floor dorms."

"What was there? And… why there?"

Vector pulled out a piece of paper from his coat, showing it to me. I grabbed it, seeing that it was some kind of floor plan.

"Is this a map?" I asked.

"Not just a map. A layout of the entire zone. I found this in the headmaster's room, alongside the Chao key and Infinite's profile. Accordin' to this, the second-floor dorms were intended fer the faculty and staff."

"Is that why Egg Robo locked it?"

"I ain't sure, but I figured that the headmaster would likely have another room since with a zone like this, yeh'd need staff workin' overnight. When I went to check, I remembered everythin' 'bout my purpose. And once I realized that, the next thing I realized was that the second-floor dorms dun have any cameras anywhere."

"No cameras? Is that why Egg Robo not only didn't know where you were, but also why you didn't know about Infinite's death?"

Vector nodded in response.

"How lonely must it have been? Was it… creepy?"

"I've seen a lotta things in mah life. Yeh'll be surprised the amount of things I've been desensitized to. But I can't deny that it did have a creepy vibe to it. It's almost like… I could feel people occupying the halls in one lifetime. Mah opinion changed when I saw… it. Charmy, I need you to listen to me: I ain't tryin' to scare ya, but I need ya to understand somethin' very important. We've learned 'bout stuff like The Great Calamity, and how there seems to be some kinda drivin' force towards keepin' outside information away from the participants of this killin' game. What I learned Charmy… I…"

He started to shake.

"Vector?!"

"I'm okay. It's just… Charmy, I need ya to understand. What's goin' on in this zone… it's more horrifyin' than anythin' we could imagine."

I tried my best to look tough, but deep down, I was terrified. What did Vector see in the dorms? Was it related to The Great Calamity?

"I can't tell ya much. It's somethin' I think ya need to see on yer own."

"Vector, I know you said not to get scared, but… I'm scared."

The emerald reptile sighed again. "I figured as such. It ain't the most pleasant thing in the world."

"Besides, I have another question. This has to do with you not knowing about Infinite's death and the trial."

"Dun tell me ya think I killed him."

"W-Well, no. I know you didn't."

"Just testin' ya to make sure. And I think ya didn't do so either. I mean, I don't own a gun, and I doubt yeh've ever fired one."

"Y-Yeah, but… if that means none of us did it, WHO must have been responsible?"

"Clearly the mastermind, no? He failed to get rid of you or me."

"Were you always the target?"

"Like I said earlier, I think Egg Robo set up the trial to kill me fer all the problems I caused him, no doubt the tippin' point bein' when I stole the Chao key and disappeared. That no doubt pissed him off so bad, he used the trial as a loophole to kill me. But sure enough, the mastermind started seein' that yeh started gettin' too nosy, and because of that, they changed their target to ya."

It did make me think though… it WOULD be like Egg Robo to just kill either me or Vector like it was nothing, and yet… he had to use the class trial. Almost like as if the mastermind were bound to the zone rules like we were.

"But dun forget, Charmy. Ya couldda been the victim," Vector continued.

"Infinite's failed assassination, right?"

"Years of doin' work that involves solvin' murders makes ya hear the sound of death knockin'. I got that feelin' that night, so I went to yer room to check on ya, and just as I got there, yer door was open and wouldn't ya know it, there was Infinite, hoverin' above yer bed with a knife in hand. Course, since he failed, the mastermind killed 'em."

"Then, what would have happened if I died?"

"Still wouldda killed me, no doubt. Once both of us were gone, they knew the rest would be powerless."

"That sounds like you're saying that the others would fall to the mastermind."

"I dun see anyone but Wave bein' strong enough to take 'em on. Silver has no use without his powers, Tikal doesn't like to fight, and Amy would rather die than let Rosie out."

"I guess that's true…"

"Regardless, the locker key was put in mah room to make it seem like I did it."

"So, the mastermind can just kill whoever they want?! But couldn't they just do that in the first place if that's allowed?!"

"I think the mastermind knows this, and once the scales were tipped in mah favor, they had to use yeh as a backup plan. 'Course, they didn't expect Ditz either so now at this point, the mastermind is cornered."

"By who?"

"Us."

I gasped when he said this. Vector took my hands and stared into my eyes.

"Charmy, I need yer help. Not just yer help, but the help of everyone here. Just gimme some more time, I can find the identity of the mastermind."

And what he said next made me fall to the ground.

"…the identity of the other Ultimate Despair."

"O-O-O-O-O-OTHER?!"

"I think Infinite was an Ultimate Despair, just not in the way we think he was. I think there is the TRUE Ultimate Despair, the original Ultimate Despair."

"W-Who could it be? Is it one person?"

Vector turned his back away from me. "Someone or somethin'…" he then looked behind at me. "…with enough power to start The Great Calamity?"

Was it true? Whoever this Ultimate Despair was… they started The Great Calamity? And most important… who could it be? Was Infinite working with someone? And… how many people collaborated to make it happen?

"The individual or group who instigated The Great Calamity, no doubt, they're the ones who trapped us all here."

Vector turned around, looking at me with a hardened face. "D'ya understand everythin' so far, Charmy?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Then ya understand that they're the true mastermind, and our enemy."

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6**

 **A Painful Dash, A Painful Spiked Wall, A Painful Life Loss**

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Amy Rose/Rosie the Rascal

Vector the Crocodile

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Wave the Swallow

Tikal the Echidna

 **Deceased**

Cream the Rabbit

Rouge the Bat

Miles 'Tails' Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog

Storm the Albatross

Jet the Hawk

Big the Cat

Blaze the Cat

Espio the Chameleon

Infinite the Jackal

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **(AN 2: And now, after much delay, and beginning just after I started my internship for my degree, trial 6 comes to an end only for Charmy to be named the murdered, but what's this? He's saved by Ditz, and we all know he never did it? Vector realized that the trial was made so that either he or Charmy would die, and now that the mastermind is cornered, the time to strike has finally revealed itself!**

 **Next time on Despair Hill Zone, the truth of Green Hills, the truth of the killing game, and most important, Charmy, Vector, Silver, Tikal, Amy, and Wave's final battle against the mastermind, with the shocking revealation of their identity finally comes out! All of this and more in Chapter 7: Despair Hill Zone Act 3, coming soon!)**


	47. Chapter 7 (Deadly Life)

**(AN: Oh my goodness, talk about something I REALLY should have gotten out sooner. I'm sorry guys, this whole pandemic and my internship has set aside things like this fic for me HARD. I had this done for a few days but I've been feeling blegh overall. Don't worry, I'm not gonna die, just kinda done with life's bs. So much for 5 days before my birthday eh?**

 **Regardless, I hope you all are staying safe during this pandemic! And if you'll excuse me, we have a special announcement before we begin Chapter 7, so hang tight while I relay the message.)**

* * *

 _Egg Robo stood by his lonesone with a spotlight shining above him, smiling._

 _"Good afternoon, readers! As I'm sure you're very much aware, Despair Hill Zone is almost finished! But what should be a happy time is instead ruined by that stupid Despair disease you real people call "COVID-19" or "Coronavirus". I don't get it! How is it that I'm so close to finally causing despair amongst my remaining students, and instead of you all feeling despair from that, the thing that fuels you with despair is some stupid disease! Maybe I SHOULD GIVE IT TO THEM NEXT!"_

 _He took a deep breath and sighed. "I understand that many of you are 'afraid', but since I'm an egg and a robot, I can say, 'Screw you, I'll still be alive once you got the plauge!'. But for the rest of you, since I want you all to feel better and full of despair once you see how this story ends, let Egg Robo tell you the top ways to make sure to stay safe during this pandemic!"_

 _The robot brought out a sink from his pocket, smashing it next to him. "The first tip is to ALWAYS make sure you wash your hands! Wash your hands after you use the bathroom, wash your hands before and after eating, wash your hands if you're outside and you touched a surface you know multiple people touched, and ESPECIALLY after touching any part of your body! After all, seeing as how you're on the M-rated section of the Sonic fanfiction archive, I frankly don't even WANNA know where YOUR filthy hands have been!" he laughed._

 _"The next kinda goes very similar to that! Seeing as how you're reading this on a computer or a phone, make sure to disinfect them whenever you have the chance! Washing your hands is one thing, but disinfecting them is another! Now, I'm sure you're probably now like, 'Gosh, Egg Robo, I came here to read about murders and stuff, not to get another useless PSA!' Well too bad, I'm goin' on without you!"_

 _Next, the robot brought out a hoola hoop and put it around his body. "For your third piece of advice, make sure you continue practicing social distancing, staying 6 feet away from people! Of course, since you're reading Sonic fanfiction, I already know you all don't go outside, so maybe you don't need to listen to my advice! Nyo ho ho ho hoooo!"_

 _He coughed into his hand from laughing too hard, proceeding to panic. "Uh oh! Coughed into my hand! If you need to cough, do it on your elbow or a part of your body you know won't touch most surfaces! Heck, do it on your ear! It works for me! And finally, most important, don't use this virus as an excuse to be hateful. No matter who or where it came from, the most important thing is that you humans look out for one another, not looking for scapegoats! After all, I'm the only one who's supposed to be causing despair here, not the real world! So there you are, five tips to keep you all safe! Just follow them and we'll get through with this! Anyway, enjoy your crappy murder Sonic fanfiction."_

 _The light turned off, darkening the room Egg Robo stood in._

* * *

 _"Charmy, I need yer help. Not just yer help, but the help of everyone here. Just gimme some more time, I can find the identity of the mastermind."_

 _"…the identity of the other Ultimate Despair."_

 _"I think Infinite was an Ultimate Despair, just not in the way we think he was. I think there is the TRUE Ultimate Despair, the original Ultimate Despair."_

 _"Someone or somethin'… with enough power to start The Great Calamity?"_

 _"The individual or group who instigated The Great Calamity, no doubt, they're the ones who trapped us all here."_

 _"D'ya understand everythin' so far, Charmy?"_

 _"Then ya understand that they're the true mastermind, and our enemy."_

* * *

 _The Ultimate Despair…_

 _The one who caused The Great Calamity…_

 _Could that someone or… something, be the same one who created this killing game for the world to see?_

 _How twisted must one individual be to create a game such as this?_

 _Could the identity of the mastermind be hidden behind so much bloodshed and horror?_

 _This wasn't the time for despair anymore. Now was the golden opportunity for us to take on the mastermind, for us to reveal the truth, and for us to leave!_

* * *

"But first…" Vector commented. "We need to get outta here."

I nodded in response. "Yeah, totally. I don't think I can lift you so we can fly outta here. Besides, my wings are a little hurt."

"Then we got one more thing we can use."

Vector pulled out the chao key and started making his way towards the door at the top of the stairs.

"That's it!" I said, following him behind. "I was trying to open that door earlier, but I knew the chao key would open it!"

"Well, let's give it a shot."

Reaching the top of the stairs, Vector placed the key into the keyhole and turned it. I heard a click sound as Vector turned the doorknob, the creek of the door screeching our ears.

"C'mon, let's go," the crocodile said as we both headed inside. I took a deep breath, glad to be out of the garbage pit.

But this was one deep breath I knew I could only savor for a little bit. Because once we shut the door behind us, we knew that the true fight began…

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents…**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **Chapter 7:**

 **Despair Hill Zone Act 3**

* * *

 **DEADLY LIFE**

* * *

From the narrow hallway, we followed the trail through empty and dark corridors all the way to a lone steel ladder. I could see a little bit of light from above, but it was too far for me to notice.

"I wonder if I can fly to see if the coast is clear?" I asked. I tried to flap my wings, but it still hurt. I hissed as I stop flapping them.

"Dun hurt yerself more than yeh already are," Vector warned me. "C'mon, let's climb."

"I don't even think I've climbed a ladder this tall…"

"Just as long as ya don't look down, yeh should be fine. C'mon."

With Vector grabbing the bars of the ladder, I followed behind, heeding his advice about not looking down. We continued to climb for seconds, which became minutes. After a moment, I started to feel my hands ache, and my vision became more obscured as we continued to climb into darkness.

"How far does this go?" I asked Vector.

"Dun get…" Vector replied, grunting as he swished his tail. "…distracted now. If ya slip, I can't catch ya."

"But I think I'm okay to fly now!"

"Dun test that."

But as he said that, it only made me MORE nervous.

I shook my head. I HAD to keep going, no matter how much it hurt or how much it scared me!

As we continued to climb, a couple of seconds later, I began to despise the emptiness and silence of the climb, and thought that maybe talking would help to pass the time.

"Hey, Vector?" I asked. "There's something I wanted to ask. What was working at your detective agency like?"

"What it was like? Well, plenty of words I could use to describe that. I come from a long line of detectives, and yeh could say Chaotix was our pride and glory."

"That means you must be proud to be the head honcho, right?"

"No. If anything, we're at the bottom of the barrel in terms of detectives."

"But you just said-"

"Because unlike the others, we took pride in what we did, not caring about stuff like money or the like. To be a detective, one must understand the balance of right and wrong, black and white, good or evil. To find truth, one must not bind themselves in the belief that they're a hero, but also that they're not a villain. In a world that cares a lot about bein' a hero, us detectives are neutral to the situation. Why should we contribute to a society who sees us as nothin' remarkable? Who would you rather fight your battles? An amazing hedgehog with superpowers, or a lowly croc detective like me?"

I thought back to how limited my information of Vector was before I came to Green Hills. Could it really be that Vector's family was so well hidden that unlike the others, I didn't know a single clue about him?

"So, you didn't come to Green Hills to become a hero?"

"…normally, our family would see Green Hills as nothing more than a sham. How could a school create heroes like that as if they were going to matter to society?"

"You sure are going on a lot about society…"

"Nah, I ain't gonna become depressin' yet. What I'm tryin' to say is, the people care about heroes sure, but what about the old ones once they fall out of favor? Who cares about old graduates once they're rendered obsoluete? No one, that's who. Besides, a detective isn't a superhero."

"Sure they can be! They can be like-"

"Ya think that, but people care about the flashy, the media cares about how much destruction there is so they can debate about Green Hills fer hours. A detective? That ain't gonna bring much attention."

"So, that still doesn't answer my question. Why then, are you here at Green Hills?"

"I think you of all people would know that answer."

It only took me a few seconds to realize why.

"It's your… uncle. You wanted to reconnect, right?"

Vector was silent for a few seconds before speaking up.

"…reconnect? Ha, if I knew yeh weren't kiddin', I'd laugh at that."

"Huh?"

"Ya heard me."

"B-But, you've been gone from him for so long! You probably had-"

"Dun even finish that. We had NOTHING in common, nothing even REMOTELY to talk 'bout. I only came to Green Hills in the first place to tell him one thing."

I wasn't liking where this was going. "What was it?"

"…to tell him how much I hate him."

I was shocked when I heard that and almost fell off. "What?!"

"At the same time mah uncle left, he was the current head of Chaotix. Little did I know that he was doin' that and bein' the headmaster of Green Hills. In fact, he preferred his work at Green Hills then bein' a detective. So, he got up one day and left, leavin' me to fend on mah own."

"Y-You? Then, that means?!"

"I had no family? Yeah. Dad had already died, and mom? Pfft, she left after I was born. Ya could say mah uncle was kinda stuck with havin' a next heir to the Chaotix early on. He didn't wanna be stuck doin' detective work fer all his life."

"I mean, I get that, but like, wouldn't it be better if he just left the agency instead?"

"The Chaotix is a one-man team. Sometimes there'll be new recruits, but it's not the case. If he left, then that would spell the end of the agency. That's why he left once he saw that I was old enough to take care of mahself. Tch, more like when he felt it was time to get rid of me. That's why, alongside tellin' him that I hate him, there's one more thing I gotta do."

"What's that?"

"To thank him. Thank him fer abadonin' me. To thank him for teachin' me to take pride in what I do, and to not run with mah tail in between mah legs. To thank him fer showin' me how far I've become as a detective, and that runnin' a zone like Green Hills means nothin'."

I was speechless the entire time Vector talked. Had he really been going through all of this? All this time, all his anger, his annoyance with others, it all stemmed from the issue of his uncle leaving him? Now that I thought about it, it did explain a lot about how he was as a person…

But did he internalize all of this? Or right now… was he… sad?

"On that note, Charmy, I wanna apologize."

I was a bit taken aback when he said this.

"Huh? For what?"

"For how I treated ya when we first arrived to this zone. Askin' yer question 'bout me bein' a detective and gettin' defensive 'bout it, it… it reminded me too much of mah uncle and I kinda had to go into instinct mode. And yet, I did that at the cost of treatin' ya bad. So fer that… I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Vector. I mean, you didn't know me, and I probably shouldn't expect everyone to be so kind and friendly, especially in a place like this. Besides, you went on to prove to yourself you're a reliable person. I can't say the for some of our deceased friends."

"…reliable? Huh, that seems funny."

"Funny?"

"Since mah uncle left, the only family I do have treat me like I'm a child and coddle me as if I've never grown up. I'm tired of bein' seen that way. It's almost like even so much time after he's left, he continues to torment mah life. I'm not seen as unreliable; I'm seen as a burden to pity. I've done mah time of bein' sad cause mah uncle left me, but it's like only me wants to move on. Besides, he's probably forgotten 'bout me, so why should it bother him that I want him gone forever."

"B-But he's still your family!"

"Charmy, doncha realize that just because they're family doesn't mean ya can allow them to manipulate yer life? Ya aren't obligated to forgive family if ya aren't connected by heart and soul."

 _You aren't obligated to forgive family if you aren't connected by heart and soul…_

I'll be honest, this is the first time I've EVER heard of anything like that. I always assumed that even if your family hurts you, it's still okay to forgive them because you're their family. But was it okay to accept that family can't change and to leave them out of your life?

I never thought about it before, and for the rest of the time we spent going up, I continued to dwell on it.

* * *

Only a minute or two after our final words, I watched as Vector began to press his hand on the ceiling, moving something up and down a few times before finally lifting it out of the way. Light faded into the dark room as we made our way up. Vector held out his arm for me to grab as I held on tight, the crocodile letting me go and pushing the lid to a large manhole back in place.

I looked around to see a large gate behind us, across a large pit with a furnace in the distance. No doubt, we were back in… the trash room.

"This brings back memories," I said.

"How does the trash room bring back memories?" Vector asked.

"I was here with Big during our first case. This was when I found Tails' fur by the furnace as well as his glove piece."

"Really now?"

"Yeah. It's… so weird. It's like I remember everything like it was yesterday, yet heaven knows how long its been since Tails and Big died."

"I guess I see whacha mean," Vector flicked his hands. "Ouch, goin' up that ladder was a bitch."

"Yeah, my hands aren't feeling any better either. Regardless, it was the only way we could have gotten out, so thank you."

"Just returnin' the favor."

"So, what's the plan now? The mastermind thinks I'm dead. And yet…"

I turned around to face the security camera. "They can see me clearly. And… and you helped me too? Couldn't that mean you're an accomplice to-"

"Why are ya worried?"

"Huh?"

"Ya heard me. If ya dun wanna be worried, let's ask Egg Robo ourselves."

My heart dropped when he said that. "WHAT?!"

"Even if we try to hide, it's only a matter of time before the mastermind finds us. With so many cameras everywhere, there's no real one place fer us to hide."

"So what, give up then?"

"I ain't sayin' to give up. Ya think Egg Robo is gonna kill ya once ya encounter him. But didja forget that the mastermind is the one trapped, not us?"

"You talked about that earlier. Something about the mastermind being the one who's trapped. What did you mean?"

"During the investigation into Infinite's death, the mastermind was completely exposed. Did ya catch the moment where they let their guard down?"

"The time I said that Infinite appearing out of nowhere was weird?"

Vector nodded. "And that's why if we talk to Egg Robo, we can confirm it. Better fer us to go to him directly than huntin' him down."

I felt like I was seconds away from a heart attack as my face fell with each passing moment.

"Vector, clutch my heart," I said.

"Yeh'll be fine, I swear on _mah_ heart."

"I feel super uneasy about this."

"I dun blame ya. We dun have much of a choice though."

"Where do you think Egg Robo would be? We can't call him, can we?"

"Let's try to go somewhere open ended. The gym might work."

I nodded as I flapped my wings. Thankfully, they weren't in pain like they were earlier, so I was able to start flying. However, the closer I got to the gym, the more I kept breathing heavily. I felt like all the veins in my body were wrapping around my heart, ready to squeeze it to cause me to keel over and die. My eyes were wide as I soon became so scared, I wrapped my arms around Vector's left wrist.

"Yer actin' like a kid, Charmy," he said.

"Look… I'm… I'm too scared!" I said. "Everything before was perfectly fine, even my execution wasn't that bad now knowing that Ditz was about to save me but this time… there's no Ditz to save me, and hell, there's only so much you can do!"

"I know that. But what did I tell you 'bout bein' afraid?"

I took my hands off Vector's wrist, staring at my feet. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

"Good."

I stared down at the floor as we continued to make our way from the garbage room to the gym. No one was anywhere in the hall, and all I heard was the faint sound of buzzing from the lights. Soon enough, despite all my objections, we finally reached the gym as Vector grabbed the handle and opened the door. Through the main hall, into the lobby, and finally into the gym itself, we only took a few new steps before we heard.

"HEY! HEY HEY HEY **HEY!"**

 _Him._

Egg Robo appeared in front of us, boiling with anger.

"Vector… while I hate seeing your mug, I don't mind that you're here because you're supposed to be. But YOU, Charmy! You supposed to be 60 feet underground and DEAD! Who gave YOU permission to come back to the world of the living?!"

Just as I expected him to react.

"What, was my FIRST punishment not enough?! Did Vector help you or something? I KNEW he had something to do with it!"

"And? What of it?" Vector asked. Egg Robo growled.

"Never mind! I'll deal with you later! For right now, I think Charmy needs to learn what happens to someone who can't learn how to stay DEAD! You were exposed as the killer, which means I must properly punish you! Don't expect me to give you a light one either! I'll give you my worst, most PAINFUL punishment ever! I'll put you in a cycle of turning you into a zombie and make it drag on for months on end, only giving you a vague "Eh" answer when you ask me when you're done!"

Egg Robo brought out a blender from somewhere in his coat, opening it up and turning it on. "Now you better be a good boy and GET in, we gotta start sometime! Or… should I force you in there?"

"V-Vector!" I cried out, holding my hand towards him. The crocodile looked at the robot, then at me, then at Egg Robo.

"Go ahead, do whatever you want," he said.

"How could you say that?!"

"But… lemme just say one thing: kill Charmy right here, and ya lost. Not that it matters to ya, right?"

Egg Robo turned his head to the side. "I'd… lose? You better start talking too, croc!"

Vector walked up to the blender and… kicked it to the ground. It shattered on impact; glass shards strewn about around our feet. "Lemme spell it out in a way even someone playin' dumb like yerself can understand. Ya set up this last class trial yerself. I got in yer way, and ya wanted me dead, so ya used the trial as your legal way to kill me. I was supposed to be the blackened originally."

"That's still not an explanation!"

"But ya knew I was lyin'. Ya knew that Charmy overlooked mah lie, and once ya saw that, yer plan came crashin' down. Ya didn't think Charmy would go so far as to protect another. So, what was the next best plan fer ya? Well, kill Charmy naturally. That's why he became the blackened, because of yer desperation. After all, he HAS been gettin' in yer way too, right?"

Egg Robo growled, his fists shaking.

"But there was one more thing ya didn't expect. Ya thought your executions were perfect creations designed without flaws that can't be destroyed on the outside. But what would happen if someone hacked into it on the inside?"

"That's what Ditz did," I said.

"Ya thought all this time that ya had destroyed Ditz and that Charmy was gonna die fer real. And yet, like everythin' else, yer wrong. Now, I'm not gonna speak to this robot shell, I'm gonna say this directly to the mastermind, who I KNOW is listenin' to me," Vector pointed in between Egg Robo's eyes. "Charmy never killed Infinite. I never killed Infinite. It was YOU, the mastermind, who did."

The robot continued to stay silent.

"Go ahead, ya can kill Charmy if ya want, but that would be a violation of yer rules. And we all know how much of a sucker yeh are for them, right? Remember yer little rule 'bout the blackened?"

"And so what?!" Egg Robo continued, getting closer into Vector's face. "I lose?! Ha! You talk a lot of crap for someone who wants to blindly blame me. Lemme guess, you can prove this, RIGHT Mr. Detective?!"

"No."

"What do you mean no?!" I screamed.

Egg Robo grinned, only it was one filled with malice. "Aha! I KNEW you couldn't prove it! Your entire little theory goes out the door with you!"

"Oh, I might not have any right now," Vector continued. "But trust me when I say that discoverin' the truth ain't as hard as ya make it out to be. This zone has somethin' I can use against ya, I promise ya. Yeh can try to hide it as much as ya can, but like everythin' someone tries to hide, people WILL discover the truth."

"And NOW you're trying to act like some bigheaded hot shot! Lemme guess, gonna tell me to cry and pee my pants now?! Bah! I don't know who's more annoying: Sniveling crybaby Charmy or loudmouthed shitlord Vector!"

"Hey, that ain't a nice word. I much prefer donut lord."

Egg Robo screamed loudly.

"Scream all ya want, but there's one more thing that digs yer hole deeper. If Charmy WAS the killer, would he come to ya like this? Would that "sniveling crybaby" as ya put it be right here in front of yer face, not carin' 'bout whatever threat ya throw in his face, or would he be cowerin' in fear, afraid of whatever yeh'd throw in his face?"

"H-Hey now…" I said, embarrassed. "You don't have to word it like THAT…"

Vector ignored me. "But here we are, standin' in front of yeh, no longer afraid."

"And WHAT?" Egg Robo yelled. "That's your evidence? Hope? Judges, tell me: was that a convincing argument or what?! Oops, guess there's no judges because all of them left when you decided to do another friendship speech!"

"Pfft, yeh? In a million years, yeh'd deny it like every killer we've had here. No, I'm tryin' to convince yer little worldwide audience who would be most angry with you, wouldn't they?"

I gasped as Vector continued. "Imagine, ya kill Charmy. What would the audience think? Why, ya killed him BECAUSE he was right 'bout everythin' we said. And yer broadcastin' this to entertain, not to anger, right?"

Vector crouched onto the floor and grabbed Egg Robo's head.

"If it ain't fer that stupid rule of yers, I outta crack the hell outta that shell. So instead, lemme tell this to ya nice and close: Even in a world of despair, hope can never be exterminated."

Egg Robo growled.

"Of course, ya can say we're just stupid teenagers who dun know what we're talkin' 'bout. Ya sure liked to call us phone obsessed pacifists when we first arrived, but would they do anythin' like what we're doin'? Nah, cause even those same people know that yeh'd have no choice but to prove it. If ya wanna admit defeat, go ahead and kill Charmy. I won't budge in. I _promise._ "

"GR-GRAHHH!" Egg Robo yelled, grabbing the side of his face.

"I'd be willin' to let ya earn the right to make us despair-filled of course. But ya can only do that if ya take my advice," Vector got up from the floor, took his hat off, and looked at Egg Robo. "Ya dig?"

" _Now he's actin' like he's some kinda rapper…"_ Egg Robo growled under his breath. "Tell me, what's this advice of yours?"

"It's really simple: redo Infinite's trial. This time, no cheatin'. Charmy and I can follow the rules, but ya gotta commit to doin' the same. Agree to that…" Vector pointed at the robot. "…and our final showdown will begin, Hope vs Despair!"

I gasped. We were… finally coming to a closure on this horrific killing game. This last trial… meant everything.

Hope vs Despair…

Egg Robo wasn't going to let us off the hook easily. I knew the robot would do everything in his power to refute every claim, know everything like the back of his hand. In fact, I knew this was going to be our hardest trial yet.

But what about our investigation? Were we going to be given one last investigation? One last chance to prove not only Egg Robo's guilt?

So many questions were left unanswered, but I assume now wasn't the time to think about them.

"So, any objections?" Vector asked. Egg Robo looked at the crocodile intently. I bit my lip. I wasn't expecting Egg Robo to just agree. After all, if he lost, then that would mean… he'd die too? And besides, if we exposed everything, the mastermind's identity would be revealed to us, and certainly that's the last thing they want. Hell, I'd even argue that they'd say no and then execute me without another word.

The robot continued to stay silent until he began to chuckle.

"Keh heh heh heh… interesting! VERY interesting! I'm almost shaking in my shell just thinking about it!" he said.

"Shaking in your shell?" I asked.

"Well, in thinking about your offer, it's time I respond to your offer in Egg puns! Now, you all cracking into the secrets of everything? That sounds like an exciting sunnySIDE you all want to take. I think that me saying no to that offer makes me look like a scrambled mess!"

"Enough with the lame jokes and answer me," Vector said. "Are ya in or not?"

"I normally don't like doing what other people wanna do, because it's all about me! But, this WILL make you and the viewers happy, no? And it DOES makes me eggcited to see you all in complete despair… Okay! Then I shall accept your egg-cellent offer! Will hope or despair win? I couldn't know even if I fried to think about it! But one thing's for sure, I'm NOT gonna give up so easily! So, let's get at it! One final smackdown!"

I couldn't believe my ears. He… agreed! He gave us another chance!

"But lemme just say this: since I'm not gonna give up so easily, let's make this the goal of this new trial: you're not just gonna guess the identity of Infinite's killer. No, instead, you're gonna also have to find out the mystery of EVERYTHING that happened here! What, you thought it was gonna be that easy? Think again! I told you I wasn't gonna give up!"

I figured he'd tell us this…

"But if you manage to do all of that, then congratulations! You all can leave here while telling me, 'That's all, Yolks!'"

"Well, glad ya see it mah way," Vector said.

"But if you DON'T… well, I think you kiddies are smart to figure out what'll happen, right?"

"Execution…"

"Ho ho ho… I can barely contain my eggcitement! I wonder… when you all learn the truth, what level of despair will you be at? I hope it's at least top 3!"

"Oh, don't act all smug now. We're just as excited as yeh are. Because when we uncover the truth, what level of despair will YEH be at?! I hope it's beyond this world."

"Bah, stealing my lines, eh?"

"I dun care. Besides, before we start. I wanna ask ya one simple question. One of yer rules is that if a student kills another, a class trial is held. There's no kinda special rulin' there, right? It's exactly like ya put it on paper?"

"Oh, come on, Vector! You make it out like I'm some unreliable person who wants to pull the carpet from under your feet! Everything here in this zone is based on the rules, and Infinite's trial is no different!"

I felt a jolt when I heard that. Infinite's trial wasn't an exception? Then, that had to mean that whoever killed Infinite…

"It's a weird approach, I know, but think of it like this. As I'm sure you remember, this killing game began with 18 people: the new class of Green Hills, which would be what you two make up, Charmy and Vector. And of those people to take a step into Green Hills before this game began… were those same 18 people and no one else…"

"What?" I asked. Hearing that, I didn't know how to feel or what to make of it. No one else came into this zone before us, no one came in after us. It was always us and Egg Robo, no one else.

Myself, Vector, Silver, Amy, Wave, Tikal, Tails, Cream, Knuckles, Shadow, Jet, Sonic, Storm, Big, Blaze, Rouge, Espio, and Infinite…

What connection did either one of us have to Infinite's death?

"Are ya tellin' the truth?" Vector asked. Egg Robo however, stayed silent. I glared at him, not knowing why he suddenly went silent.

"Egg Robo?" I asked.

"Ho ho ho… HO HO HOOOO! NOW I'M ANGRY!" he yelled. "I'M DONE WITH YOU ALL, GO AWAY AND SHUT UP! GET LOST, SHOO SHOO!"

"What's wrong with you?!"

"I think he's unstable right now," Vector replied. "Not much we can do 'bout it. C'mon, let's go."

"I mean, is he really gonna let me go? Like, just like that?!"

Egg Robo blew a strong raspberry at me. "I don't even care anymore! Why should I bother anyway? I should be back in my office coming up with the best possible punishment for you all! Ho ho ho…. Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho hoooooo!"

"Alright, he's useless now. C'mon, Charmy. We're going."

Egg Robo continued to laugh as Vector grabbed my wrist, leading me out of the gym as the walls echoed with the robot's laugh. When we finally returned to the lobby, I took a deep breath and collapsed to the ground.

"Charmy, whaddya doin'?" Vector asked.

"Needing a minute to catch my soul back to earth," I replied.

"Yer soul is fine."

"Physically yes. Emotionally and mentally? No."

"Look, ya still have yer life, doncha? Now c'mon, let's get up from the floor and do what we're supposed to do."

"Vector, I don't know how you do it sometimes. You get me out of these situations like they're not scary at all."

"Oh, trust me, they are. It's just I'm in better control of mah fears then yeh."

"How do I repay you in all these situations, man?"

"I'll tell ya how: get off the floor. We got work to do."

I sighed as I brought myself up onto the floor, flapping my wings as I began to fly.

"I'm telling you…" I said. "I'm shocked that the mastermind said yes."

"So am I. I didn't have much of a plan if they didn't accept mah proposal."

"Why do you think they agreed with it? There's nothing really to gain from this. If they win well, then they killed everyone in this zone. What exactly does that solve?"

"I dunno, but one thing is fer sure, they had no choice but to do so."

"Hm?"

"The moment they let their guard down, remember? Ya were there at the time, when they said they hijacked every broadcast signal to broadcast this killing game to the world, correct?"

"Yeah?"

"What didya think 'bout that?"

'What did I think? Well, I thought it's hard to do something like that. Wave even said so herself that there hasn't been a hijacking of that level since a few decades ago since everyone used analog TVs. But with satellites, it's almost impossible I'd imagine."

"I'm not surprised Wave knew 'bout that. Those hijackin's were high profile back then, likely why satellite TV is so encrypted nowadays. Yeh'd have to know a lot of technical prowess to hijack not just one broadcast, but multiple. And yet, the mastermind was able to do such a thing."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Think 'bout it this way: there had to have been a reason why the mastermind did something so difficult. It's like… like they wanted to show the world somethin'. No matter what the cost was, in this case, being us killin' each other."

"I still don't get it either. What's being broadcasted is nothing more than some snuff game, and yet, no one's tried to stop it. You THINK someone would stop something clearly illegal. And yet…"

"The way this game works as set up by the mastermind is that it wasn't so that Egg Robo would kill us all whenever he felt like it. It was about forcing us to kill each other. All the rules Egg Robo aligned fer us was based around the fact that he wanted us to kill each other."

"Yeah, you're right! If those stupid regulations didn't exist, we wouldn't have a reason to kill each other!"

"And there's those motives too… combine the regulations and the motives, then that proves that the mastermind's true motive was to force us to kill each other and broadcast it for the world to see."

"But now that begs our next question: Why?"

"To prove a point."

"Huh? What point?"

"Ya might not have known, but the students of Green Hills are known by society as "Secondary Students of Hope". So, what would happen if those same students of hope started killin' each other? Well, then they're no longer the Secondary Students of Hope. They're the Secondary Students of Despair. The mastermind wants this world to see that, that even the most hopeful people in the world like us can sink into a world of despair, pain, and sufferin'. That was their goal as the Ultimate Despair."

"That's what it means to be Ultimate Despair?..."

"It's exactly the kinda thing someone who is Ultimate Despair would think up of. That… thing's only purpose is to spread despair. Nothin' more, nothin' less. They dun care 'bout how they do it, or who they hurt."

"T-That's it?! No other reason or anything? Not even because they're hurt, or because they're lonely, but because-"

"Because nothin'. That's just what the Ultimate Despair is, Charmy. I know it makes ya angry, and yet… it's that motivation that exposed the mastermind's weakness."

"What do you mean?"

"All this time, the mastermind assumed all yer talk 'bout beatin' them was just a show. They thought we were all too cowardly to do anythin'. It's that arrogance that led them to revealin' that the killing game is bein' broadcast. More recently, they've been more… let's say, they've been a bit of a hardass on the rules lately. Ya see, if the mastermind just ignored the rules, this wouldn't be a game, but a one-sided slaughter. At least, I imagine that's what the viewers would think."

"So that's why Egg Robo can't kill us ourselves unless we threaten him?"

"Yup."

He didn't kill us because he wanted the game to be exciting, not for it to end like that…

I thought back to that movie I had mentioned to Tikal a few weeks back. That same movie was about a secondary zone class like mine being trapped on an island and forced to kill each other, but only one would survive. Even though the government was involved and even though there was a gamemaster, only in certain scenarios would they kill. And it was for the same reason…

In the movie, they didn't kill because the whole point of the killing game was to spread fear into the nation's citizens, telling them not to rebel. In our situation, Egg Robo didn't kill us because the whole point of his killing game was not only to spread fear by broadcasting a snuff game to the world, but to prove to the world that even the most hopeful people fall into despair.

But I couldn't fight back like the kids in the movie. I didn't know how to use a gun, how to hack computers, or basic survival instincts.

So now I had to ask… What could I do now?

"The mastermind can nag and moan all they want, but I ain't violatin' their rules. Unlike Rouge, who broke the rules and was punished, I can't be touched cause I didn't break anythin'."

Rouge…

How long has it been since I heard her name?

"And that was the trap. Making it seem like you killed Infinite so the mastermind can use a legal reason to kill you."

Vector nodded.

"Then do you think… do you think that maybe the people outside of this ring dimension knew that Egg Robo was lying about you being the mastermind?" I asked.

"I dun think so, and that's where Egg Robo messed up. He was so set on silencin' either me or yeh that he forgot what he was doing with the outside world. Sure enough, guess what ended up costin' him?"

"So adamant on this idea that despair rules over all that he forgot his own rules… And he even said yes thanks to you."

"Dun sell yerself short, yeh also are the reason he accepted as well. If ya exposed mah lie, we wouldn't have this second chance."

"But still, it's like you're… you're psychic or something!"

"What if I was?"

When he said that, I swore I saw Cream's face flash in her mind, and her whole "I'm psychic" line played back in my head.

"Sorry, that ain't mah line," the crocodile continued. "Regardless, I didn't really read his mind, more so relyin' on dumb luck. Had I been wrong well, it wouldda been a terrible effort. But, we lucked out, and this time, I was at least able to overcome Egg Robo just this once. Trust me, I might look calm now, but I was just as nervous as yeh. I didn't have any way of tellin' how this would end. Thankfully, somethin' I learned durin' mah time as detective is that ya need to show a stoic face as all time. Showin' any kinda emotion besides that would make things tense fer all parties involved."

Vector sighed. "Now that we're here, we can't waste any time. We dunno when this investigation will start, so we need to get started on our battle plan. We should find the others and let them know what's goin' on."

"You're… you're right! We all need to work together and defeat the mastermind: our true enemy!"

But as I said this, something in Vector's expression changed, almost as if… he was against the idea.

"Vector?"

"…is that possible?"

"What do you-"

"Never mind. Let's just go."

I was confused by the sudden change but… I guess it was best not to pry about it. He turned around to leave as I followed behind.

"Where do you think the others are?" I asked.

"Probably in the dorms or somewhere," Vector replied, the purple lights of the hall reflecting off his scales. We continued to make our way towards the exit and into the main dorms when I noticed the dining hall.

"Hey, everyone is usually in there, right?" I pointed.

"I guess we can search there," Vector nodded as we both headed towards the dining hall. When we arrived, I saw Tikal, Amy, Silver, and Wave all sitting at a table. I felt my heart flutter as I saw them. My… my friends…

I wanted to say hi first, but before I could do anything…

HE ruined the moment.

Egg Robo appeared suddenly in front of us, but when he spoke…

"SbAFSDbBlfdbljkfsabndjlklfdsahndfiosh23r8yu80923yh2goihbskljs!" he said, distortion coming from his speakers.

"Uh, excuse me?" I asked.

"HGNFNFNFN! FOKSNN3JU09UI90";'.;'L21=\\\=S[AP-LPKLPK,SP[,APAMO! ASHURAJBNJKNJAKBNAJKBA!"

The robot soon left, leaving me confused.

"I think his emotional support systems are failin'," Vector said, arms crossed. It was then that I noticed that the four at the table were looking up at us. Tikal and Amy gasped loudly as Silver's mouth was wide open. Even Wave was looking at me with shock.

"Is that-?!" Amy asked.

"Yo, it can't be!" Silver said.

"CHARMY, IT'S YOU!" Tikal yelled as she and Amy ran up to me, both hugging me. The echidna began to cry.

"O-OH…" Tikal sobbed. "I-I THOGUHT YOU… YOU… YOU DIED!"

"SO DID I!" Amy added. "DON'T-DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"

"You guys…" I said, now starting to choke up myself.

"Look at you, a stubborn bug who refuses to die," Wave said, walking up to me. "Makes sense because you're a bee."

She then suddenly began to smile. But this time, it wasn't malicious or smug. This smile felt genuine, and especially what she said next almost knocked me out of my shoes.

"…glad to see you're alive, shorty."

I was taken aback. Here she was being… nice? This clearly wasn't the Wave I knew.

"It's so great to see you're okay!" Silver said. "But uhh… you aren't like a ghost are you? I just wanna make sure! You never know!"

"Ah, never change, Silver," I said. Suddenly, I heard the sound of Tikal sniffing.

"What's that smell?" she asked.

Amy looked to my side and sniffed me, and when she did, her face turned green.

"EWWWW, HE'S GROSS!" the two girls yelled, pushing themselves away from me.

"Jeez, it's not my fault Egg Robo put me in a garbage pit!"

"EVEN MORE GROSS!"

"I guess we could add trashy to the number of adjectives we could use to describe you now," Wave said.

"Oh, come on!" I complained. "I was actually relishing being shocked that you were nice to me for once!"

"As amusin' as everythin' is, I think we need to get down to business," Vector said, putting his arm between us all.

"What kind of business?" Wave asked.

"And more importantly, is it okay for Charmy to be here?" Silver asked. "What if he catches him?"

"That's why we're gonna have this conversation now. Charmy, if yeh can begin?" Vector turned to look at me as I nodded.

"No worries. Everyone, we need to tell you about the last class trial," I began.

"The one where Egg Robo called you the killer, right?" Tikal asked.

"Yeah. We're redoing it."

"What do you mean?!"

"What's the point?! Charmy was already named the killer!" Silver said.

"I never did it. Vector didn't do it either. Our killer all this time was always the mastermind."

"So, the mastermind was the true killer? But then… why were you named the killer?"

"It has to do with the mastermind's trap," Vector said. "If ya remember, before Egg Robo suddenly stopped the trial, Charmy told all of yeh that there was somethin' wrong with the trial. Do ya remember? He spotted the trap in time and did everythin' he could to stop it. But it was that result that would lead to Egg Robo selectin' him to die."

"You… Shorty, you ACTUALLY uncovered the trap?!" Wave asked, sounding surprised that I did such a thing. She made it seem like this was easy…

"That's where Egg Robo made his mistake. Executin' Charmy who wasn't the blackened was against the rules HE made. The rules state that ONLY a blackened can be executed should they be caught. Since Charmy was never the blackened, that's how Egg Robo broke his rules. And because of that, I made a deal with him to redo that trial."

"And they said yes? So, they admitted it!" Amy replied.

"It was that TV broadcast they mentioned. Egg Robo does everything in his power to entertain his audience, and yet, our little audience knows that Egg Robo was lying. That's how you used it to your advantage, right?" Wave asked.

"Even when I'm not there, information just comes back to me, Wave," Vector replied, eyes shut.

"This is what you meant by the mastermind being cornered, didn't you?"

"Hey so uh, are you guys gonna slow down and explain this to me?!" Silver complained.

"Then ask Vector later. We don't have time to relay you information."

"So… what's our plan now?" Tikal asked, hands to her chest. "We know who killed Infinite, so now it's our job to expose him, right?"

"Wait. I have a feeling it's going to be much harder than that, pacifist girl."

"You're right…" I looked down at the floor. "Egg Robo gave us another task. Not only are we to prove he killed Infinite, but also he told us we had to expose the truth about everything in this zone."

"Everything?!" Tikal exclaimed. "But we've been here for so long and yet we still don't have any clues! Who put us here, why we're here, who the mastermind truly is, and more importantly… does this Great Calamity have something to do with it?"

"Then we better get started now," Vector said. "I figured yeh'd all know by now but… if we fail to complete our tasks, we all die."

I could see a visible joltish reaction from Tikal, Amy, and Silver, the latter whimpering upon hearing that. Wave even looked a little concerned but tried to hide it.

"I don't wish to die!" Tikal cried.

"H-Hey! I don't ever recall agreeing to this!" Amy complained. "I know we have to expose the mastermind but… what if we fail, huh?!"

"Would you rather take the chance, or be stuck here for the rest of your life? Your "precious" Sonic is dead, your split personality likes someone you normally don't like, you have no more of your hobbies, no more social life, no more ANYTHING. Is that the life you want, pinky?" Wave asked. The pink hedgehog seemed to shrink.

"W-Well… you didn't need to put it like that."

"At this point…" Vector said, ignoring the two. "The only way fer us to survive is to uncover the truth. "

"One final battle with the mastermind…" Wave said. "If only this was physical. I'd love to return the favor to them as revenge for Jet and Storm."

"There's a lot we'd need to do… Can we actually solve everything in such a short amount of time?" Tikal asked.

"It's taller than that time I ordered Meh Burger's Supreme King Xtreme, complete with sandpaper shavings as seasoning…" Silver groaned, hands on his hips.

"I know it seems impossible, but this trial is different. We're all working together for the same goal: stopping the mastermind. If all work at this, we can solve everything in no time flat! I guarantee we will!"

That's when Vector stopped me.

"No."

I looked at hjm, confused. "Huh?"

"I dun like the idea of workin' together."

"W-What are you saying, Vector?! We were given a second chance and a goal! We know what we need to do, and why we need to stop Egg Robo! We can solve everything quick and without any headache!"

"Sure, if ya look at it without thinkin' 'bout it. But that's until yeh remember what Egg Robo said."

I was confused what he meant until… I remembered it.

"What do you mean?" Wave asked.

"Egg Robo told us that eighteen people entered this zone, and no one else," I said. "All of us and the people who died here are the only ones."

"I see… then I think I understand why Vector is skeptical."

"Huh? Why?"

"We're all convinced that the mastermind is the one who killed Infinite, right? But, Egg Robo said that only 18 people came into this zone and no one else. That means the mastermind had to have been someone who stepped foot into this zone. Sure, Egg Robo could murder Infinite, but cleaning up the scene like that? Impossible for a robot. Only a living being could have done that. And yet, the only people who entered Green Hills were us: the eighteen students thrust into this killing game."

My blood ran cold when I heard that.

I realized what he meant now. I thought about it earlier, about the connection all of us had in connection to Infinite's murder. I thought it only meant that one of us killed Infinite, but… when I thought about it. It went deeper than that.

That would mean that one of us who stepped foot in this zone was truly the mastermind?

But how? Only us six were the only ones alive at this point. If we were the mastermind, we would be controlling Egg Robo, wouldn't we?

That's when a deeper fear hit me. If it turns out the mastermind wasn't one of us…

No… it couldn't be…

The Ultimate Despair was said to be more than one person. Infinite was clearly one of them and yet… There's supposed to be more? Who was working with him?

"I remember seventeen of us in that main hall when we first arrived. Myself, my darling Sonic, all of you standing here, and… everyone else who died," Amy said. "Add in Infinite and that's a perfect eighteen. That would mean…"

"The mastermind is one of us. Either one of us standing here, or, someone…"

Wave's gaze lowered. "Someone we thought had died is still alive."

Tikal and Amy gasped, Silver grabbed his quills and bemoaned, and I tried to keep my shocked face hidden, but couldn't.

"Wait, we have no proof of that!" I said. "Wouldn't it be likely that Egg Robo would say that to confuse us?"

"It's a possibility," Vector said. "But it's one of many possibilities. Couldn'tcha argue that the mastermind bein' one of us is a possibility?"

"And we can't just ignore that," Wave added.

"Ultimate Despair…" Amy said. "That must mean they were a part of the same zone as us! It's not really IMPOSSIBLE…"

"But if one of us was the mastermind, we'd be controlling Egg Robo right now, wouldn't we?" I asked. "Was anyone acting suspicious when Egg Robo was active?"

"Not that I can think of but maybe they snuck off and controlled him?"

"That would be impossible! Someone would surely notice!" Tikal said.

"Maybe Egg Robo is automated!" Silver said. "Someone who knew exactly what he'd do would preload him with commands, and he'd just do it!"

"No way!" I said. "There's no way Egg Robo could have done that knowing that we've had so many back and forth conversations with him. It just isn't possible for something automated to do that!"

Wave shook her head. "If they directed the flow of conversations, it isn't impossible. Do you ever notice that he would spout off on strange things? I wouldn't be surprised if it was a way to confuse you."

"Sure but…"

That's when a bell from the monitor interrupted us. All of us stood up when we heard the bell, turning to face the monitor. It turned on by itself, displayed the zone crest, and Egg Robo appeared on screen.

 _"This is a zone announcement!"_ he said. _"You all probably know this by now, but the killing game has now commenced, and you have all entered the special stage mode! Congratulations on collecting 50 rings and getting your key! Thanks to this mode, I have now unlocked the doors to EVERY room in this zone! To solve this mystery, you'll need to look EVERYWHERE! Ho ho ho! You better look good, as I can't WAIT to see what you'll come up with during the trial! HO HO HO HOOOOOO!"_

The monitor turned off as Vector turned around. "Ha, look at how nice he is. Openin' all the rooms fer us."

"Enough with talking. I think our investigation begins now," Wave said. I tried to interrupt her, but she held up her hand in front of my face. "I planned to work alone in the beginning. For me to make a strong argument, for me to get revenge not only in the name of Jet and Storm, but the entire Babylon race, I will get that putrid robot. I have no time to worry about what you all need to do. It's your responsibility after all. Goodbye."

Wave left as we all watched her walk off.

"She's right… maybe… maybe it's time I actually find stuff for myself," Amy said. "I'm… I'm done with being afraid. I'm gonna search as much as I can! I'm gonna do it for my darling Sonic!"

Amy ran off afterwards, leaving us behind.

"And she's gone too," Silver said. "Lemme guess, you too, Vector?"

He nodded in return.

"So, it's just us four. Uh… you know… I know I've been kinda useless in these investigations but… when I heard Wave just now, I realized that I too am helping you all uncover the truth. I don't wanna be lazy or just leave it up to you all cause I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but… I wanna help you all! I'm done with being clueless about everything! I don't know why but… ever since I arrived, I felt like I've been losing myself more. I haven't used my powers ever since I lost them after the first trial, I feel like I've been holding people back-"

"What do you mean your powers?" I asked.

"My ESP! I strangely can't use them anymore… I don't why but… I hope this investigation will help me on the track to getting them back!"

"That's inspirational, Silver…" Tikal said. "Do whatever you need to help us."

"That's right, Tikal! I'm on it!"

Silver ran out, leaving us behind.

"Everyone's gone off by themselves. All I've done is protect bodies or pray over others. How can I be expected to help you all?" the orange echidna asked.

"Do whatever you feel is best. Look around, take note of what's around you. Even if you see something you don't like, you're doing it for a good cause," I said.

"You're… you're right. Grandma always taught me that in the face of adversity, even when all seems hopeless, you need to be a voice that breaks the mold. It was this line that inspired me to make a speech when I was three when we got a letter about our local government using the lake by my Grandma's house as a landfill for garbage. No one dared to go against him, and yet… Grandma inspired me to take a stand against that. That's why… That's why you're right, Charmy! I am doing this for a good cause! Maybe I can find something that'll help you all, and when I do… I know I've done my job to help us all escape. Okay, I'll take my leave."

Tikal took out her prayer beads from her pocket and held them in her hand. "I'm praying for us all. Please, let us solve this mystery…"

She turned around and left, leaving Vector and me in the dining hall.

"Vector?"

"Before ya ask, I would prefer ya do yer own investigation. However, dun think I'm against us workin' together. That goes fer all of us."

It seemed weird for Vector to say that, especially since he was against the idea. But seeing that we would all be doing our own stuff means that we would find the answer quicker. Thinking about it like that… heh, I was dumb for thinking that we would be split up completely.

"Anyway, I gotta get goin'. So much to check, so little time," the crocodile stomped off, his tail swishing. "Ya better look in places ya wouldn't think to look. Since all the doors opened, there's a lot to check. But remember, no matter what, we have to uncover the truth."

Before he left, Vector put his hand on the wall. "Just remember. Yer a good detective. Please… dun let us down."

The reptile left, leaving me in the dining hall. He was right… I couldn't let everyone down.

But everything in my mind was just rushing forward. The mastermind being one of us, having to uncover every memory, I felt like I was going to crash into a wall of spikes at lightning speed.

But I knew it wasn't one of us. I had to expose their identity, expose the truth of this zone, I just had to! Because we ALL must leave here alive! And no one was going to stop us!

 **INVESTIGATION**

 **BEGIN!**


	48. Chapter 7 (Investigation)

**(AN: After so long, when I REALLY should have gotten this out sooner, it's time for the investigation! We're on the final homestretch, so be sure to keep your eyes out for the last remaining clues!**

 **Let's try and wrap this up as fast as we can, alright?)**

* * *

 _A large amount of Egg Robos sat lined up in chairs, wearing their graduation caps and gowns as the Egg Robo speaker made his way to a podium. He began to tap on the microphone, a loud noise blaring through the speakers as some of the robots covered their ears in pain._

 _"To our lovely graduates;" he began. "In the time you've been here, you've learned about what it means to be a dweller of despair. Since the day you arrived here, the despair you held in your heart existed, but with each grueling lesson, each grueling test, you learned how to unleash more and more of your despair. And now! This bright and hopeless day marks the end of our time at this wonderful zone! HOWEVER! The days we learned about despair will lead us to guidance as we continue to fill our world with despair and smash the concept of hope!"_

 _The Egg Robo speaker put his hands on the podium, gripping it tightly. "All of us in this room were able to wallow in despair because we were born and molded into it. And as you walk out of this graduation ceremony, may the hopeless sense of despair weigh on your hearts for the rest of your lives… for today… you're all graduates of the Zone of Despair!"_

 _The audience and the graduates cheered as the latter threw up their hats in celebration, eager to use what they'd learned to start worldwide despair…_

* * *

"If I'm gonna start this investigation on my own, I'll need to find a good start. Do I still have the EggPAD on me?" I asked myself, digging through my pants and coat pockets. Sure enough, I was able to find it in my front coat pocket, shocked that it wasn't damaged on my fall into the garbage shoot. Starting it up, I went through the documents once again.

 _"Victim #7, unknown_

 _Due to the explosion, the identity of the victim is currently unknown. What can be deduced from the body however is that, even before the explosion, the unknown victim was already dead. The victim had been stabbed through the chest with a knife, they had a bullet hole in the same area where they had been stabbed and was also hit with a blunt object. There were other wounds on the body, but it seems to be more than 24 hours old."_

Once we find out who killed Infinite, we'll know who the mastermind is. The problem was, with every room being open, there was FAR too much I could pick. Maybe I could go back to the scene?

"No, I bet Egg Robo probably cleaned it up already," I said, pacing in a circle. "Maybe the locked rooms had another secret? There's a few in mind; the headmaster's room, the bio lab, that Egg Robo door, so many choices to pick. There's the second-floor dorms, too. Oh, but… maybe I should go back to the garden and the roof for clues. Gah, I'm indecisive, huh?!"

I shook my head. Better to ignore what my mind wanted me to think versus what I should have been doing. Getting out my PAD and my stylus, I opened up my notepad and started a new document, writing down the places I needed to go in a list.

Making my way out of the dining hall, I looked at my list. Seeing that I was closest to the second-floor dorms, I decided to make my trek there first. As I reached the stairwell past the warehouse, I looked at the grey stairs leading up towards a far darker hallway above. I swallowed, not wanting to know what was in there.

"But still… I need a reason to know why Egg Robo kept this place locked for as long as he did," I said. With one deep breath, I walked up the stairs as I watched the lights from below get slowly dimmer. As I finally reached the second floor, I stopped.

In front of me was a hallway that LOOKED the same as the dorms on a construction level. However, on every OTHER level…

The walls were cracked open, rocks scattered all over the ground. The lights were dim and flickering, making me think someone was going to appear in between each flicker of the lights. This entire area looked like it wasn't even finished or looked like someone tried to destroy it but gave up halfway through and just abandoned it.

I looked behind me, hoping no one was following me before making my way forwards. Looking at how decrepit everything was reminded me of one of my biggest fears: fear of the unknown. I remember I used to get teased by some of my friends whenever they used to camp and I didn't want to go because I wasn't sure what was out there. But the thing was, I was more afraid at whatever would be outside and I wouldn't have the pleasure of knowing who or what it was. See, monsters and stuff like that okay, I likely would be prepared if I knew a place had a certain monster but it's different when you're in a dark empty field and you don't know WHO is making that certain noise but it isn't another person. It doesn't help that once I woke up to a movie about a group of friends who get stalked by a strange woman who they can't even see and it ends with them in a dark empty house with plenty of noises but no sight of anyone or anything.

That feeling I got when I watched that movie when I was a kid was the same feeling I got as I traversed through the narrow hallway.

….

You know, sometimes I wonder if maybe my fear about very specific situations seem to come from some kinda movie I wasn't supposed to see growing up…

Shaking my head, I started to buzz towards the cracked walls, hoping that no one or nothing could jump out at me. Upon seeing nothing, I continued to go forwards as I noticed the dried-up blood on the floors, and then to my right was a blue hallway with barely any lights. You can imagine I didn't go there first.

Passing by a collapsed wall, I noticed there was a girls bathroom down the hall. Sure, it was abandoned but did I REALLY need to be there? Shaking my head, I poked my head into the boys bathroom. There wasn't anything of note, but I noticed that for how decrepit the hallway was, the boys bathroom seemed to be completely untouched with very expensive black tiling on the floors and walls. Ignoring that, I noticed that there was a mirror that showed another room with not a lot of lighting. There wasn't much, but I took notice of a symbol I had seen a few years back in geography class. Turning my head, I noticed a yellow door with some kind of cartoon drawing on it. Wondering what it was, I opened the door only for it to reveal many lockers lined up against one another. I noticed that many of them were boarded up or destroyed, leaving only a few intact.

"Sure is filled with lockers… who could they have belonged too? Former students of Green Hills?" I asked myself. "Maybe I should see if I can open one of the not so damaged ones…"

Buzzing over to a perfectly fine locker, I tried to get it open, but to no avail. I didn't see any kind of lock, so it SEEMED weird at first, until I noticed a PAD reader atop where the locker would open.

"Let's see if this works," I said, pulling out my PAD to see if it'll work. However, when I scanned my PAD, a large BUZZ noise played as the green light of the reader turned red.

"Damn… guess maybe the locker's owner can only open this. Now what? Should I tried another?"

But sure enough, when I attempted to open another locker, I got the same result. And again, and again…

Defeated, I left the room and continued to head down the hall, passing by a drawing of an eye to my right as I turned right at the end of the hall and found a single door. Entering inside, I was rather surprised when I took my first steps. Unlike the various rooms I had been to before, this had more of an adults vibe to it.

"It's nothing like downstairs…" I said.

"That's cause it ain't," a sudden voice said. I jumped, realizing that it was Vector who said that.

"Jeez, don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry. Just… we're in the headmaster's room right now."

"The… headmaster's room? But isn't that room on the fourth floor-"

"That's his office. THIS is his personal room. Been through here plenty of times but…" Vector sighed. "I got one little regret, so I decided to check it out again. Couldn't find it yet… oh well…"

Vector turned around to look at the large bookcase next to him. It almost seemed like he was in deep thought about something, but what was it? I wasn't too sure.

I decided to examine the bookshelf that Vector was looking at, where I found a computer turned on. This clearly must have belonged to the headmaster. Maybe there was some info we could use?

I walked towards the computer and as soon as I grabbed the mouse, Vector spoke up. "Ya aren't the only one wanting answers from that computer. Looks like whoever used it last wanted info 'bout the Ultimate Despair."

My heart skipped a beat when I heard that.

"It still has some info too," the crocodile continued. I looked at him.

"So, you're saying we can get some dirt on the Ultimate Despair?!"

"Eh, not much though. It's stuff we already know, like how its not just one person but a group of people, behind The Great Calamity, and how they only live for despair. That's all there is. Tch, sounds like my uncle. A failed excuse fer a detective…"

"I-I mean, any info works, right?"

"I guess."

I knew The Ultimate Despair was going to be important to this trial, so I wrote them down as my first clue.

After getting off the leather chair, I began to buzz around to look for something else to examine. However, I only made it a few feet forward before I felt a sudden breeze.

 _"Wait a moment…"_ I thought to myself, turning my head to the left and seeing a wall. I squinted my eyes, only to notice that the wall had a weird gap. From far away, it was hard to tell. But now that I was up close…

I began to buzz towards the wall, feeling it. It still felt like a wall but…

"There's somethin' on the other side," Vector said.

"You mean there's a hidden room? Man, it's like your uncle is some kinda comic book villain!"

"I think villians are more appealin' than mah uncle."

"Know how to open it?"

"I think so. It's so painfully easy, it's like he wasn't even hidin' anythin'. There was a program on the computer to control the wall openin'. Only problem is, ya need a password. Now, what it is? I'm… not too sure. It could be anythin' really."

"You think he named it something immature?"

"C'mon Charmy, mah uncle may be a terrible person but he ain't a kid. Think real."

"I'm outta options."

"Nothin' in this room seems to even hint as to what the password could be. I searched through file after file, corner after corner, nothin'. Ironic that all the time I wasted on this crap is just the same amount of time that I wasted feelin' sad that he abandoned me."

My face fell. The more and more I heard about Vector's issues with his uncle, the more I felt bad for him. Heaven only knows what could happen if we finally find the headmaster.

But still…

I looked at the wall, wondering what the password could be. If Vector couldn't figure it out, what in the heck would suggest I could do that?!

…unless the password was something Vector never considered.

"Vector… I think I have an idea as to what the password is," I said. The crocodile turned to face me. "Your name!"

His expression turned surprised with a mix of… sadness? Anger? "Whaddya mean?" he asked.

"D-Don't take it as me knowing what it is! It's just a solid guess!"

But I did have a strong argument. With how Vector talked about his uncle, the last thing he ever wanted to think about was him in a positive light. But here he was, using Vector's name as his password. Does that mean that deep down?...

No, I HAD to try.

"Can… can we just make sure that it works?" I asked. Vector rolled his eyes and breathed out his nose.

"Suit yerself."

I looked at him as I buzzed back to the computer. Sitting on the chair, I pulled up the keyboard and looked at the main screen. Only to realize…

"…hey, which program is it?" I asked. "To open the wall I mean."

"Should be ," Vector replied. Turning back around in my chair, I double clicked the program as a textbox on screen asked for a password. I typed 'VECTOR' and just as I was about to press enter, I turned to look back at the crocodile.

"Dun look at me. It was yer guess after all. I just know yer wrong anyway but if it makes ya feel better…" he said. I turned around and pressed enter.

When I did, the password prompt disappeared from the screen as the screen seemed to hang. I wasn't sure what was going on. Was I right? Was I wrong?

"Well, guess it didn't wor-" Vector said before getting cut off by a sudden shake from the ground. I got up from the chair as we watched the wall move to the right, allowing access. My eyes were wide, but when I looked back at Vector, there were so many emotions on his face that it was hard to tell what he was feeling. Was he angry that it worked? Sad that it worked? Surprised that it worked?

"I… I don't understand," he said, grabbing his right hand tightly. "Why?"

He then started to walk into the newly revealed room without me. "H-Hey! Wait up!" I called out, following behind him. I was concerned, remembering how grim he had looked in that moment. As I buzzed across the short hallway, I found myself in a small grey room with pipes all over the room. There didn't seem to be much that defined the room, and yet, I saw Vector starting at something on a shelf.

"Hey, Vector!" I called out. But I got no response.

It was then that I looked to my right and noticed a wrapped present to my right on a small table. It was neatly wrapped in red paper, with a cute green bow atop it too. I didn't know what was in that present, but something told me I wasn't going to like it.

"Be careful, Charmy," Vector said. "I know it seems temptin' but… ya never know with mah uncle."

"Do you think it's dangerous?" I asked.

"Not dangerous but… shockin'."

"Hm?"

"All I'm gonna say is… it's… it's somethin' none of us are gonna be happy to see."

"Do you know what's in there?"

And in a more hushed tone, he replied. "Y-Yes. I do."

I was even more scared now. What was even in the present that made Vector this way. Was it something shocking? Something that made him sad? Something that horrified him? No, I knew it couldn't be. Vector isn't that type of person! I opened the present, knowing I wasn't going to be scared. After all, I just had to treat this present like it was a present on Christmas Day!

…but when I opened it, I wish it had been something like coal. Because what I saw made me scream and drop the present to the floor, a mess of bones collapsing onto the ground. I heard Vector audibly cringe behind me as I scooted away from the mess I made. Seeing bones like that would have made me think it was some kind of Halloween prank. But as soon as I started to catch a scent of the smell from the box, as well as realized the shape of the bones…

I realized this _wasn't_ a prop. These were _real_ bones. This was the last thing I was expecting to find in something as fun and joyful like a present. I covered my nose with my shirt as the scent got too much for me. Vector walked over and picked up the bones, doing so while looking away from the mess as he placed them back in the box and covered them up.

"It's… just as I thought," he said.

"What do you mean what you thought?!"

"I didn't think there would be bones in there but I had a hunch that box had somethin' 'bout… _his_ body."

"His body?"

And then I gasped.

"No… Oh… oh Gaia, no… Please don't tell me," I whispered. Vector nodded.

"Whatcha saw… that's… that's all that's left of mah uncle."

My heart sunk into my stomach when I heard that. All this time, Vector had this anger, this hatred, this apathy towards someone who was dead the entire time.

"How do you know?" I asked. Vector reached back into the box and pulled out of the skull. He held it up next to him.

"Do these look any different?"

I looked at the skull of Vector's uncle and Vector himself and my pupils felt like they were shrinking by the second. It was a near match.

"Besides, based on all the factors we got from Ditz regardin' information 'bout the headmaster and what Egg Robo told us 'bout the participants of the killin' game… Ditz knew that the headmaster was here, but Egg Robo said the only ones who were alive were the eighteen of us."

I gasped when I realized what he meant. "Then that means, even from the very beginning, your uncle was always dead?"

Vector nodded. I didn't know how Vector stayed calm throughout the situation.

That was, until I noticed a sudden twitch in his body. He was trying his best to hide how he felt in front of me…

He had said that it was a possibility, so Vector had the idea that his uncle was dead. But now that it was confirmed with no denying it… I think that part of him wanted the headmaster to be alive.

Is that why he never looked at the box and just guessed on what it had?

I remember what he told me; wanting to tell his uncle how much he hated him and how he wanted no ties with him anymore. But this…

Vector's words about entering Green Hills overflowed my mind.

 _"…normally, our family would see Green Hills as nothing more than a sham. How could a school create heroes like that as if they were going to matter to society?"_

 _"Vector never saw himself as a hero. Would he really give up how he felt as a detective just to come here? Was it really… all for his uncle?"_

I looked at the present and wrote the present as my second clue. It was then that I saw that Vector had gone back to staring at the photo that was on the shelf that I noticed earlier. It was finally buzzing behind the crocodile that I got to see what it was, and when I did…

My face fell.

In the picture was a very young-looking Vector, taking a picture with two men by his side. If I had to guess, one of them was his dad and the other was his uncle. All three of them looked beyond happy, as if they had no care in the world.

"Vector?..." I asked.

"…why… can't I move on?" he replied, shaking.

"Huh?"

"Mah only reason to come to Green Hills… was to cut free everythin' from mah past. Forgettin' 'bout mah uncle, mah parents, and everyone else. And yet… yet… y-yet…"

He stopped himself, continuing to shake.

Everything made sense now. Vector's name being the password, this picture…

Vector's uncle never did forget about him.

"I don't get it. It… it's not fair! I wanted to tell him how much I hated him! To let him know how much of a piece of shit he was fer abandonin' me! I'm only here fer that reason! And now… it's like… it's like when I was a kid. Before I could tell him, he stole that opportunity again. Bastard… fuckin' _bastard!_ "

I put my hand on Vector's shoulder, lowering my head. I didn't know what to say anymore.

I left him alone to the picture and decided to examine the desk by the wall. Hopefully me finding something would help him focus on something else. I was hoping he wouldn't mind if I touched stuff, but it seemed like he didn't. Opening every drawer, I pulled out everything they contained; papers, pens, etc.

In the last drawer, I found a PAD. This one however was different, as the back of this one had a sticker that said 'CONFIDENTIAL'.

"What kinda PAD is this?" I asked. "Can it… open everything?"

"It can."

I turned to face Vector, who still held the picture, but was trying to focus on me. "It seems to be a special PAD fer the headmaster's use only. Take it, I think we'll need it fer this investigation."

"Me? It's your-"

"I dun want it. If ya feel like ya dun need it, leave it here."

"I… alright."

Vector didn't respond to me as I wrote the confidential PAD as my third clue. I still wasn't sure if it was okay for me to take it, so I did it rather begrudgingly.

"Hey, Charmy? Mind if I ask a favor?" Vector asked.

"Hm?"

"I know what I'm gonna ask is selfish and if ya get mad, frankly I dun blame ya. But… is it fine if ya leave me alone for a little bit?"

"Vector… why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"No no, dun worry 'bout me. I just… need a minute, okay? Dun worry, I'll be back to the investigation soon. Just-"

"Look, Vector. Can I ask you? I know you told me about the relationship between you and your uncle, what you told me about family, but-"

"This image says things different. I know… Maybe unlike mahself, he wanted to see me again. What yer sayin' is just a theory. This image doesn't change everythin' I went through, and it ain't an easy solution."

"…you're right. I'm sorry."

"Look just… let me be fer a few minutes. Go on without me."

I lowered my head and nodded, buzzing out of the room. It wasn't halfway through the hall leading from the secret room to the headmaster's room that I heard a thud from the secret room and… soft but audible weeping.

I wanted to comfort Vector, but I knew I needed to return to the investigation. Leaving the headmaster's room, I started buzzing down the hall as I relayed everything that had happened in the past few minutes back to my head. The mastermind killed the headmaster, killed Vector's uncle. I don't know why they did so, but seeing Vector act that way back there…

The headmaster was never the mastermind. Sure, they kept us in here, but… I don't think it was for villainous reasons.

Which meant that truly, one of us was the mastermind. Add in Infinite, there were eighteen people here. Now, there were just six of us. Me, Vector, Tikal, Silver, Amy, and Wave.

But how? If the mastermind wasn't one of us, how could it be either Cream, Rouge, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Sonic, Storm, Jet, Big, Blaze, or Espio? Plus add in Infinite too-

I grabbed my head. "No no no! There must be a different explanation! There has to!"

Finally reaching where I needed to go, I knew I couldn't let it bother me. I entered inside the locker area I had been to, buzzing up to one of the lockers that wasn't destroyed. Taking out the confidential PAD I got, I wondered if this would work.

"Let's give it a shot," I said, scanning it. To my surprise, the light on the PAD reader turned green as it confirmed that it worked.

"Alright, let's see what we got!" I said, opening the locker. As I did, I noticed that the locker seemed rather ordinary. Textbooks, notebooks, what seemed to be some kind of Digital Pet game, a carton of milk (gross), and a bag full of pens of different colors and pencils.

"Who does this belong to?" I asked, grabbing one of the notebooks from the pile and opening it up. As I did, I opened to a page with math notes on it. It covered both sides of the page and had really… neat… handwriting.

It was then that I noticed the name at the top right corner of the page.

'Silver T. H.'

I dropped the notebook as soon as I read that.

That notebook… it said Silver's name on it.

But how? How could HE ever use this? He could have never been in here!

I had to know… I picked up the notebook and began to flip through the pages, seeing various different titles for each section of notes.

 _"3.3 The Pythagorean Theorem… 4.1 X,Y Graphing Plots… 5.6 Probability…"_

All of them had 'Silver T. H.' on the top right corner of the page in the same neat handwriting as the note I had gotten a few weeks ago.

Could he have attended class here? But... how? He was in the same class as us! We were all sucked into this ring dimension, and we never had a proper class!

"What is this notebook trying to tell me?"

Quickly, I got out my PAD and wrote down my fourth clue: Silver's locker notebook. I quickly shut the locker, too freaked out by what I saw.

I then moved onto the next locker that was good for use. I wasn't even sure if I WANTED to see what was in this one. With my luck, it had someone else's belongings in it. Or worse…

Opening it up with the confidential PAD, I opened the locker to find it empty, sans for a small notebook in it. Grabbing it, I looked at it confused.

"I wonder what's in here?" I asked, opening it up. "There doesn't seem to be any name here, and-"

I stopped when I reached page 182 through my skimming. Something caught my eye that made me read it.

 _"There's a plan to turn Green Hills into a shelter and have the students live their communal life here. Thus, I decided to talk to the one that came up with the plan directly. It just so happened they were the headmaster AND my uncle. He told me some details about the plan, which I'll transcribe here._

 ** _'To build the ultimate world of heroes to stop all despair outside, I'm doing this so that they'll all be the hope for not just the people, but for the future as well. Only the genius of the class and only their help can triumph despair. They are the final hope for this world, even if it means self-isolation. The others may not enjoy this plan, but doing this can guarantee that they can build the foundation for a new era. This is the only hope we have, so I hope you agree to the plan.'_**

 _That's what my uncle told me. As usual, he was selfish by doing things without asking others how they felt about it. I can't imagine a worse uncle."_

I was flabbergasted. All I had to do was read headmaster and uncle to know who THIS belonged to.

But if this belonged to Vector, why was it here? It contradicted what he told me about not seeing his uncle since he was a kid. And yet, this notebook said he talked to his uncle. This made less and less sense…

As I continued to skim the notebook, I found nothing more that could help me until I reached the last page. When I did…

Everything went bad to worse.

Very few words were on the last few pages, and what was on there…

 _"Despair walks among us, and yet we still survive."_

And the very final page…

 ** _"All three despairs shall rise."_**

Three…

All three… despairs?

Despair walking among us and yet we still survive?

I knew this had to be my fifth clue, so I wrote it down.

As I turned around, holding the notebook. I just… I didn't know what to say.

Was the Ultimate Despair now truly only three people?

I just didn't get it. These lockers had to belong to previous students. And yet… things in the lockers look like they belong to people here. Silver and Vector had stuff in them, so… what was the explanation?

I couldn't sit here and overthink. I had to keep getting a move on with the investigation. But if there's one thing I knew I had to do…

I decided to go to the next place on my list of places to examine.

* * *

I decided that I would check the data center, remembering the Egg Robo door in the room. Leaving down the flights of stairs, and back to the first floor and up, by the time I had reached the data center, I was walking because of how tired I was. Jumping up and opening the door, I saw Tikal was already inside.

"Oh, hello, Charmy!" she said. "Are you here to help me with my investigation?"

"I didn't think you'd be here, Tikal. Have you been able to find anything?" I replied.

"Not much. I've been trying to gather the courage to go into that Egg Robo door…" she giggled. "…but as you can tell, I haven't quite been able to muster it yet. Still though… do you think Egg Robo's little rule about all the doors being open applies to this?"

"I imagine it does. Should we give it a shot together?"

"You'd help me? Oh, thank you, Charmy," she smiled. "That's so kind of you!"

I nodded as I buzzed over to the door. As I put my hand on the doorknob, I watched as Tikal grabbed a chair and held it in front of her, shaking as she tried her best to lift it up.

"Okay, y-you can open it… now!" she said. I simply looked at her.

 _"What, I don't get one?"_ I thought to myself.

Now that I turned my attention back to the door, I was now getting anxious to open it. I mean, what if it DID explode as soon as I opened the door. It DOES seem like an Egg Robo thing to do anyway…

No, I HAD to stop thinking like this. I already survived my execution and got out of a second. So what if it DID explode or not? My helmet is still on me, and I just had to pray it was just like the movies.

Turning the knob, I opened the door and bit my tongue as I crouched, holding my head. Thankfully, there wasn't any kind of explosion, so a couple of seconds later, I looked up to see that everything was okay. Tikal dropped the chair she held as she ran into the room.

"Thank goodness there was no booby trap!" she said. I nodded, until I noticed what the room was like. Unlike the large monitor room, this room was a lot smaller. A large desk surrounded three panels on the north, west, and east sides of the room, with many smaller monitors in the corners. There was a chair in front of the northern most monitor, where a keyboard and microphone lay.

"How scary…" Tikal said, walking around the room when she suddenly stepped on a metal panel on the ground. We looked at it, confused, until I realized it looked like a cellar door. I was gonna examine it, until I heard Tikal gasp.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I buzzed up to the echidna girl. She pointed at the monitor in front of us as we saw the various symbols move around the monitor.

"It's like some kind of robot," she said.

"Like a cockpit…"

Tikal slapped me. "Ow, what was that for?!"

She looked at me, angry. "That word! How dare you use that word!"

"It's not a bad word! Haven't you heard of a cockpit before?"

"There you are saying it again!"

"Because that's the part of like a ship you control!"

Tikal's eyes widened. "O-Oh… that's why… I um… I… forget I did anything. I'm _sorry…_ " she weakly said.

I rolled my eyes but decided to let her go. "It's fine. But see? Notice all the panels and all the icons on the screens. It's like this monitor controls something."

"Well, let's see what this controls."

"Wait, Tikal, you shouldn't just press a random button! You don't know what it-"

We were suddenly interrupted by a suddenly BOOOOING sound coming from the monitor room. We both turned around to the room, wondering what the noise was.

"Charmy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

"What did you even do?"

"I… I touched a button called Data Center!"

"Data center?" I turned around to look at the keyboard to see a button labeled exactly what the girl was talking about. It was then that I realized what this monitor was for.

"Tikal, I'm gonna go check it out. Stay here."

Tikal nodded as I made my way out of the room. Peeking my head out, I turned my head back and forth to see if anything was there. That's when I noticed… HIM, standing all by himself in the middle of the room.

"You…" I said.

Unlike his usual self, he didn't say anything. He stayed silent, staring at me with his thousand-yard stare.

"Hey Egg Robo, answer me!"

"GAHHH!" he suddenly screamed out. "This is Egg Robo! I demand a wagon filled with delicious sugar cookies!"

"S-Sugar cookies? Wait a minute, Tikal, is that you?!"

"U-Uh… no! This is P-Paul! Paul Pinkerton!"

"Okay, for real."

"Yeah, it's Tikal. How do you get this thing to work anyway?"

"What do you mean? Do you not even know what you're controlling?"

"Not really. It's hard to control and I can't see much. I can at least see you from the monitor in here. And hey, there's a self-destruct button! That means we can get rid of Egg Robo!"

"No no no! Don't touch that!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Aw… if you're sure, Charmy."

I turned around from the robot. So, this is how he was being controlled. Whoever was inside the Egg Robo door all this time was the one controlling him.

I entered inside the Egg Robo door again, seeing Tikal get up from the chair by the monitor.

"Well, at least we found what controls him," I said.

"Should we destroy it so the mastermind has no possible way to get Egg Robo back?" Tikal asked.

"I doubt he'd take kindly to us destroying it."

"Still though, it seems weird that there'd be two rooms for this."

My eyes grew wide when I heard what she said. Two rooms… a monitor for Egg Robo and a room for all the surveillance of the zone…

Then Vector's theory WAS right! The mastermind couldn't control Egg Robo AND track us at the same time!

"But now thing brings up a new question…" Tikal continued; arms crossed. "So, according to Egg Robo, the only people who came into this zone were us eighteen students. That must mean the mastermind must have been in here controlling Egg Robo, and thus, means they too have been inside the zone alongside us."

"Then what you're saying is that…"

Tikal nodded. "It's just as Egg Robo said. One of us eighteen people could be controlling Egg Robo. At least I know it isn't you, Charmy."

I stood shocked, not giving the echidna a response.

"Charmy?..."

"…it's fine. Don't worry about it."

"I don't like the face you're giving me."

"No no, it's fine! I'm just… doing some thinking."

"I hope it's nothing too bad… Maybe we should leave, this place gives me the creeps, and…"

"And?"

"I don't know if it's you, but I get the feeling that someone or something is watching us stand here."

I looked at her as I looked behind me, and then around me. There didn't seem to BE anyone around…

"But I get why you're skeptical. Let's go," I said. The two of us headed out of the data center, but as we did…

The door slammed behind us as the lock was set.

Tikal yelped as we quickly turned around, running up to the door and slamming our fists on it.

"You ass! Let us back in!" I yelled.

Suddenly, we heard that familiar BOIIING sound as we turned to face Egg Robo with a bath towel, a shower cap, and a rubber duck in one hand.

"Is THIS what you like to do, Charmy?! INTERRUPT PEOPLE DURING THEIR CALM BATHS?!" Egg Robo yelled.

"Oh, come on! Don't give me that crap! You know you aren't bathing! We know you're in there, mastermind!" I replied.

"Wow! How rude! Because of your crappy attitude, I declare the data center off-limits to EVERYONE! So now when people can't explore it, all I must do is tell them it's your fault and they'll all be mad at you! Bite it, bee! Besides, the more time you all spend in there, the less I'll be around! Wouldn't that just suck if I stopped hanging around?"

"Not really…"

"Oh, that's a lie! I just know it!"

"Just so I can confirm it, someone is in the room controlling you right now, correct?" Tikal asked.

Egg Robo nodded. "Sweet, kind Tikal! Always asking the important questions! Why of course!"

"But how?! No one was in the room!"

"Did you check EVERYTHING?"

"Everything?" I asked. It was then that I suddenly had the hatch flash in my mind. "Oh no… NO, don't tell me you were in the hat-"

"Ho ho ho! As usual, you're so dumb you can't be assed to do a full investigation! Better get on with it, _boy._ Investigation skills as crappy as those isn't gonna help your case! Of course, it can't be opened on the inside, so you were always doomed to fail! Now, I already banned the place, so go on and get!"

Egg Robo vanished, leaving Tikal and myself in the hall.

"Was… was he telling the truth?" she asked.

"Well, the door was slammed behind us. Somehow the mastermind knew you'd come here and hid in the room just in case. But once I came in, well, looks like they made the right move," I replied.

"Gosh… I feel like it's my fault. I was scared and I wanted to leave…"

"Don't feel bad. Egg Robo said himself that you couldn't open the door from the outside, so even if we did examine the hatch, it's not like we could do much anyway."

"I… I guess you're right."

"Look, let's stay positive, okay? You're always the one to bring us into good spirits, no? We can at least say we got to know how the mastermind works after all!"

"Y-Yeah, of course! I can't let it get to me! Thank you for helping me realize that, Charmy… Alright, I'll tell the others what I found. In the meantime, don't let us down!"

Tikal ran off, leaving me to myself. I got out my PAD, checking off the Data Center as I realized my next location to check out was the Headmaster's office. I remembered how we were gonna break in until we found Infinite's body, so now was the perfect time to go and see what the room contained.

* * *

Buzzing to the other side of the hall, I finally reached the office as I opened the doors, revealing a very professional looking office. It looked even more professional than the office on the second floor dorms, as flags, portraits of what I assumed to be previous headmasters, and trophies and achievements to Green Hills behind a glass panel to my left. There, I saw Wave in front of a bookcase, a stack of books by her.

"Wave, have you found anything?" I asked. She turned to face me and smiled.

"Ah, shorty, good timing. It just so happens I DID find something," she said. "Here, take a look for yourself."

I was confused as Wave grabbed something by her and put it in my hands. I read the blue file's title, "Class #91 Student Registry" it displayed.

"What the heck is this?"

"A profile on every student in this zone… including Infinite. It seems that our class is number 91."

"So, that profile we found in Vector's room, it came from here?"

"Well, the file was atop the headmaster's desk, so it likely did. Since we're all here, it leaves no room for doubt that Infinite was a student alongside us."

So this is how Vector learned about it.

"But goodness," Wave continued. "You think Vector would be in any less of a hurry to get his profile out. It's all crumpled and ugly."

"Well he DID sneak in…" I replied.

"And what? That suddenly means he can no longer do things efficiently? He always strives for perfection, and yet he can't even do a heist right. If he was having trouble, why not ask meeee-" she stopped herself as she looked at me, realizing what she was about to say. "Ugh, never mind. Regardless, Vector was in SUCH a hurry that… he forgot something."

"Forgot? Forgot what?"

"Check yourself. I don't have to spoon-feed you every bit of information. All I'll say is that the page Vector got was only ONE page, and that there was more information about  
Infinite that we didn't know about. And, even better, it was written by the headmaster themselves. How thoughtful of them to leave us such a good clue…"

I placed the file down on the nearest surface as I opened it up, where the file of Infinite lay waiting for me. I picked it up and began to read.

 _"Infinite reappeared suddenly, and in the background, entities are floating. They're close, but just out of reach. The entities known as...the Ultimate Despair(s). Right now, I can't be sure if this is a single person, or some kind of group. Or even if just a small group of people are involved. Whatever it is, Infinite has some sort of connection to it._

 _I have a bad feeling about all this. I need to push forward with my research into the Ultimate Despair(s). And I need to pay attention to Infinite's behavior, too. This is just my gut feeling, but I think he's more dangerous than any one of us realize. Despite the countless battles he must have gone through as the leader of the Jackal Squad, when he entered Green Hills, he didn't display any signs of battle wounds or scars. Even during his physical, his mental state was that of an ordinary individual, no sign of anything such as PTSD. That fact alone proves his tremendous skill in battle._

 _Naturally, I want to believe in him. He's one of my students, after all. But if I decide he's a danger to the other students I will be forced to take all reasonable measures."_

There it was again... the mention of multiple Ultimate Despairs. We heard that it could have been some kind of group, but now, this is saying that it could maybe be a small group of people who all share some kind of connection.

"You look like you're deep in thought," Wave said.

"Well, I kinda am," I replied.

"I'll give you a piece of advice. There's one thing I've been noticing about all the profiles. They all have our pictures and our information. As I'm sure you notice," the swallow pointed at the picture on Infinite's profile, showing a black jackal with flowing white hair, and a large scar over his right eye. In fact, I noticed as well that his eyes were two different colors as well. "…you don't recognize him, do you?"

I shook my head.

"Yup, there's his information there. Weight, height, blood type, chest size."

"What does that have to do with things?"

"I think it's definitely something you should keep in mind for the future."

I nodded, checking the rest of the profiles. All of them were the same as Infinite's with our information as well as comments from the headmaster. After skimming Jet and Blaze's pictures, I passed by Rouge's only to… stop.

"Hang on a minute…"

I went back to her profile as I noticed her picture. I remember that Rouge specifically had a mole on her face but… it wasn't here on this picture.

Wave saw what I was looking at. "You're confused aren't you? I remember that she had a mole too, that is until I noticed what angle this was taken at. The way her picture was taken, you couldn't see the mole."

"Yeah, and I remember her saying that she'd often hide it with makeup so it would be super hard to see," I added.

"It's as I said. I do think this profile file is far more useful than you realized."

With the swallow walking away, I wrote down the profiles as my sixth clue.

"By the by, one more thing…" Wave said. "I feel like I should tell you something. I know you're still getting too buddy buddy with Vector, so I just want you to know to stop getting so close to him. The cost of your closeness is going to hurt you in the long run."

"…huh?"

"Forget it. It's just something I want you to think about."

Wave turned back around to look at more books as I left the headmaster's office, crossing it out off from my to check list and went down to the next location: the Bio Lab on the fifth floor.

* * *

Going up the stairs and to the farthest, darkest part of the floor, the dull greys of the hallway was telling me that what I was going to find here wasn't going to be so pleasant. Opening the door, I was blasted with a sudden chill as I flew a few steps back, holding my arms together. Entering inside, frost from every part of the room spilled onto the floor like it was smoke. It made me feel like I was in a mad scientist's lair, only with less beacons with potions and experiments. To my right, there were a neat row of what looked like square refrigerators. There were nine in a row, making up eighteen in total. I noticed that a lot of them had a blue light on next to their door, but the ones at the end didn't.

"What the heck even is this for anyway?" I asked myself, buzzing up to one of the fridges without a light on and trying to get it open. I was able to slightly open it, but only a little. However, when I did, I realized these 'fridges' weren't refrigerators.

 _They were morgues._

"Oh… oh Gaia…"

I dropped to the floor as my eyes wandered to the other side of the "fridges". The lights on and…

No…

I counted the morgues with their lights on. One, two, three… nine, ten… and… eleven…

A perfect eleven for everyone who died here, sans Infinite of course, since his body was still in the garden.

With my heart sinking as I knew that all my friends were stuffed inside these small morgues, I quickly went to the desk near the morgues, trying to see if there was ANYTHING I could use to take my mind off of what I was seeing. Atop the desk, I saw a manual and picked it up. As I did, I noticed a tarp on the floor.

"I swear, I've been seeing too many of them…" I said to myself, examining the tarp as I began to read the instruction manual.

 _"We offer an eco-friendly alternative to standard dry ice for all your cadaver needs. In addition to the germicidal lamps, we also provide an ozone generator for the removal of ethylene gas. Simply insert the cadaver, and the blue light will let you know the automated systems have activated. Temperature and humidity levels will be adjusted automatically for optimum settings. With our system, anyone can keep a body fresh as a daisy for as long as you need! In the unlikely event of a problem, the red light will activate and an alarm will sound immediately. The exterior is stainless steel, and we do offer an optional leather upholstery upgrade package."_

Letting the manual go, I felt even more sick. This bio lab was being used as a morgue, and those "fridges" being on meant that someone who died was in there for preservation. I quickly wrote down both the secret of the Bio Lab and the lights of the "fridges" as my seventh and eight clue respectively.

After I finished writing, I quickly left the bio lab, far too disturbed by what I saw.

To take my mind off things, I figured since I was on the fifth floor, I'd go back to the crime scene to examine it again. So, as I tried to block the image of all my dead friends being frozen in place, I buzzed over to the garden, only to find…

Nothing.

Everything was the same as when before Infinite died. No blood, no sign of an explosion, no sign of anything.

And worst of all…

Infinite's body was nowhere.

"Maybe he's in the toolshed?" I asked myself. But as I buzzed to the toolshed and opened it up, there was no sign of Infinite anywhere. Now I was panicking. Where was he now?!

"…the Bio Lab," I said to myself. I imagine after every trial; the mastermind takes the bodies to the morgue for preservation. So that must be where Infinite is.

But corpses aren't the only thing right now, because there was one more thing I noticed on the ground of the toolshed. A tarp, the same one that was covering Infinite from the sprinklers in the garden.

But as I examined the tarp, I noticed something on the bottom right part of the tarp. A sticker that read "BIO LAB".

I see…

I got out my PAD and wrote the tarp as my ninth clue. Leaving the toolshed, I knew that even though I didn't want to, I HAD to go back to the Bio Lab to make sure I wasn't missing anything. But as soon as I left the garden…

 ***Ding dong, bing bong***

My heart stopped. Oh GAIA…

Was time up?! But I barely got to find anything! I don't have any clue about the mystery of the zone because I was too busy trying to find out where Infinite was!

But what Egg Robo said next wasn't what I was expecting at all.

 _"Attention everyone: this is a zone announcement! Is everyone working hard? Is your investigation coming along nicely? Are you finally gonna get the last Chaos Emerald? Well then, since you're all giving it your best, your generous headmaster will give you a little hint! Ho ho ho... For those of you who are interested, please make your way to the gym as soon as you possibly can! If you don't come and get it, I'm going to sell your hint online!"_

As the monitor turned off, I was shocked. It wasn't what I was expecting at ALL frankly, and yet… What kind of a hint was it?

I was suspicious but… Anything to get my mind off the Bio Lab?...

With that, I buzzed down from the fifth floor to the first, heading to the gym. I was surprised to see no one else coming to get the hint, at least, until I saw Silver in the lobby.

"Silver? What happened? What did Egg Robo say?" I asked. But as soon as he saw me, he turned entirely white.

"C-Charmy! I… I!" he said in fear.

"What's Egg Robo's hint?"

"It's… it's! Erm, you have to see it yourself! It's not something I can say, ha ha ha…"

I raised a brow. "Erm, Silver?"

"Sorrygottago!"

Silver ran out of the gym as I turned to look at him. Not knowing what his deal was, I entered inside the gym, finding that I was the only one there. As I waited for Egg Robo to arrive, I suddenly remembered the locker I found on the second floor.

"Damn, I should have asked him…"

Suddenly, I saw Egg Robo jump onto his podium as he normally did as he saw me.

"Ah, so Charmy came by for his hint! I'm surprised! I thought you'd be too scared or too skeptical to come by, but here you are!" the robot said. "Well, time for your final hint!"

He threw up a letter into the air as it landed by my feet. "Well? Better start picking it up now!" he said. Glaring at him, I crouched down as I picked up the envelope and opened it up. Inside the envelope was a picture.

"You better flip it, kiddo…" Egg Robo said. "And just so you know, I'm NOT gonna answer you if you have questions!"

I bit my lip as I slowly turned the photo, and as I did…

I dropped the photo.

Because what I saw was a class photo of all my friends smiling as they posed for their picture. I would have laughed when I saw Sonic's hand and Tails' head covering Rouge's face, if I didn't realize one thing about it.

I was NOWHERE in the picture.

I picked it up again to make sure I wasn't seeing anything, and sure enough, everyone was there, including that jackal behind Cream. But as my eyes scanned the image multiple times, I was nowhere to be seen.

It was like I never came to Green Hills.

But I guess that made sense. After all, I don't remember ever taking a picture like this. Sure, I Cream and I went to the same secondary Zone, but the first time I met everyone else was when I arrived here at Green Hills. So, it IS natural for me not to be in this picture.

But what's _unnatural_ is that everyone else _is_ in the picture.

I thought everyone was like me and didn't know each other till they got here. But if this picture is real...

"Hey, gonna keep standing there like you were frozen today?" Egg Robo said. "You're getting in the way with your big fat self! So… out! Out out out!"

"But-"

"What did I say?! NO QUESTIONS!"

Egg Robo ran up to me and kicked me so hard that I flew back into the lobby, slamming onto the ground. I still had the photo in my hand, but my entire body was aching. Lifting myself up as much as I could, I got out my PAD and wrote the group photo as my tenth clue before I ended up just laying on the ground.

* * *

Some ten minutes later, I got up from the floor. I didn't feel much better, but at least I was a little bit more relaxed.

This photo wasn't a hint. It was confusion atop of confusion. Something like this photo couldn't be faked, and yet…

"Ugh…" I groaned, letting my arms fall to my sides. "My head is gonna burst the more I think about this. I should ask the others about the image."

I began to look for the location of everyone, but each time I did, they refused to speak to me. Wave told me to not act like we were friends and left the library, Silver freaked out hard in the garden, and Tikal looked nervous as she quickly fled the dining hall. I sighed as I left the dining hall, not even sure as to why I couldn't get an answer from the others.

"Screw this, I'm gonna return to the Bio Lab and actually explore like I was gonna," I said to myself, buzzing back to the fifth floor. But as I finally reached the Bio Lab and opened the door, I saw… Amy on the ground.

"Amy?!" I said, dropping my photo and rushing up to see if she was okay. She still felt warm and had a pulse, so she was still living.

"Thank goodness…"

However, my celebration was shortlived as Amy began to shift in my arms and suddenly bounced to life.

"KYA HE HEE HEE HEEEEEEEEEE!"

Oh no…

Rosie continued to giggle until she suddenly began to shiver. "AIEEE! How cold is it in here?! It's cold cold COLD!"

"Well, maybe don't sleep in here."

"Oh, looks like Stinky Pinky took a nap here! Sorry for worryin' ya, Chimcharm! Was it really YOU who saved me, though? Are you my new knight in shining armor?"

"N-No! I would never! I was just making sure you weren't dead!"

"Sure, that's what they all like to say, but I've seen how friendly you are with me, Chimcharm! Getting all ha-"

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKAY, that's enough from you. Look, tell me something: do you remember anything that happened? How you ended up here perhaps?"

"I dunno! I just kinda… woke up here!"

"Oh right… you and Amy don't share the same mind."

"Yup! We have the same brain, but we have different memories! Even if stinky pinky forgets something like her homework, if I know about it, then I'll remember it!"

Remember it?...

I don't know why but…

I felt like I needed to remember that. So, I wrote down Rosie's memory as my eleventh clue.

"Hey, you better tell me where my darling Shiruba is, otherwise your throat is SLIT, Chimcharm!" she said.

"I-I dunno. I saw him in the garden last but everyone's being weird, including him," I replied.

"ALLLLLLL by himself?!"

"Yes. All by himself."

"OOOOH, saved your life again, Chimcharm! Thanks for telling me though! I better make sure he's not all alone! Here I come my darling! Don't forget about meeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Rosie ran off from the room as I was left alone. I sucked my lips as I realized…

"…I forgot to ask her about the picture."

I slumped in place until I turned to my right and saw…

Something that clearly wasn't there before.

One of the moruges was open. My eyes widened as I quickly buzzed to the morgue. The fridge was open, and there was a blanket wrapped individual who I could see sticking out from the fridge.

"That wasn't there before…" I said.

"And that's no doubt why Amy passed out."

I turned around as I heard that, seeing Vector in front of me.

"V-Vector!"

He smiled. "Heya. It's me."

"W-Where have you been? Are you… are you okay?"

"I dun think that's the question yeh should be askin'. I think what ya should be askin' is, what are we doin'?"

"Right, I'm sure you definitely don't need an introduction to this room."

"Well, considerin' that Amy was dumb enough to look at a dead body up close, no wonder she passed out. Here, let's close it up. Dun wanna be botherin' the dead."

"You're right."

I pushed the body back into the fridge, but just as Vector was about to close the door, he stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"…this fridge."

"What about it?"

"Haven'tcha realized somethin' 'bout it?"

"No?"

"…it's Infinite's morgue."

"Where he's being kept?"

"Exactly. And with him bein' here, we can use this chance to get a closer look at the body. Lemme examine the corpse first, and in the meantime, try to find any other clue in the room, okay?"

I nodded as Vector pulled the body out again. Turning around, I looked at the tarp and buzzed towards it. Remembering the one I found in the toolshed, I pulled it out and turned it to where I could find the sticker on the corner of the tarp. Sure enough, the same 'BIO LAB' sticker I saw on the tarp in the toolshed was on the tarps here, meaning that the mastermind must have gotten their tarp from here. And so, I updated my clues about the tarp.

"Hey Charmy, did ya know anythin' 'bout these lights?" Vector called from the other side of the room.

"It seems that when someone is inside one of the fridges, the light is on to signify that they're inside," I replied.

"And yet there's eleven lights on."

"I thought that was weird too. Do you think we should open every fridge to make sure who's gone?"

"…nah, I think we can uncover who it is on our own."

"If you say so…"

Now that I think about it…

"Hey, is it fine if I can ask you a question?"

"Hm?"

"I don't wanna interrupt you but I wanted to ask you about that hint Egg Robo gave us."

"I didn't take him up on his offer."

"Really?"

"It's because his hint would only cause us confusion and only divide us even further. He can't cloud mah judgement, because I can discover it on mah own."

"That's a good point."

If only I had done that…

"Okay, I'm done," he said.

"Jeez, that fast?"

"Ya get used to it. Now, fer mah report. So, comparin' mah autopsy to what the EggPAD said, I took notice at the wounds and the amount of blood. I'm thinking that the stab in the chest may have been after death."

"So, it's confirmed? The gunshot is the cause of death?"

"It is but… it's odd. It's almost like the gunshot was almost a day old before he was stabbed."

"How could you tell?"

"All the wounds on his body seem to have been made only a day or two ago, sans the gunshot. That's because we couldn't see because of the explosion, but… there's a stitch where Infinite was exactly shot."

"A stitch?!"

"It seems the mastermind had some well-known experience with coverin' their tracks if they could hide things like that."

"My question is now… who could be responsible for doing such a good job on something like that?"

I didn't know who it could have been, but I wrote Vector's account as my twelfth clue.

"Is there anything else you wanna know?" Vector asked.

"Yeah. Did… did Infinite have black fur, white hair, and different color eyes?" I replied.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because Wave showed me a file with all our profiles, and Infinite looked exactly like that. This would rule out any doubts about him still being alive and the mastermind."

"…Charmy… I think that file is somethin' ya need to look at more indepth leadin' up to the trial. I'm gettin' a strange feelin'…"

"Strange feeling?"

"…never mind."

I didn't know what he meant, but I should take up his offer.

"Well, we should head out since we dun have anythin' else to do with Infinite," Vector said.

"Erm… maybe we could put him back."

"Put him back?"

"Yeah… shouldn't it feel like… a little nice? I dunno, I know he's an Ultimate Despair but-"

"Stop. Stop stop. I know WHY yer sayin' that, That doesn't change that he was our enemy. Just cause he was killed, remember this phrase: "You reap what you sow"."

I looked at him as the crocodile stared into my soul. He then rolled his eyes. "Oh fine. I can't resist that look of yers."

And with that, Vector put the body back into the fridge, closing it.

"Well, now what?" he asked.

That's when I remembered the notebook I found. "Erm, one MORE thing."

"Another thing?"

"No no, this is actually a big deal. I wanna ask: can you confirm that you've NEVER seen your uncle since arriving to Green Hills?"

Vector's expression changed. "W-What?"

"Did you check the lockers on the second-floor dorms?"

"N-Nah. They were locked and I couldn't open them. Ya need the PAD of the owner to open it."

"That's where the headmaster's PAD that you gave me comes in. I was able to unlock the lockers and what I found was… a pocketbook. YOUR pocketbook."

"…mine? I never owned a pocketbook, and my PAD didn't work on any of those lockers. If it WAS mine, then I clearly would have it-"

"I get why you say that. But I think that doesn't explain why the pocketbook has a message about your uncle."

Now Vector reacted strongly to this.

"What didja just say?!"

He looked away from me, covering his mouth. "No… then that means… that video is…"

"Video?" I asked. Vector turned back to me and ran up to me, grabbing my shoulders.

"Charmy, I think I finally realize everythin'. And what I learned is far worse than any of us have imagined."

"Is it?"

"Lend me the PAD ya got so I can check the lockers fer myself. In the meantime, there's something ya need to watch NOW. I don't know how much time we have left, but if mah calculations are correct… then this DVD and the pocketbook are connected and reveal what TRULY happened."

Vector handed me a DVD that said "Class #91 interviews". I grabbed the disc, looking at it.

"What's on it?"

"…something that explains why I never found that pocketbook."

I added the DVD to my list of clues.

"It… it feels weird. I hated mah uncle for so long…" Vector said. "…and yet, I want nothin' more than the mastermind to get what's comin' to them. I didn't care that he found happiness, and yet… I feel so strong about the way he died. It's… almost comical."

Vector turned around. "Charmy, at this point, we don't have much time. There's one more thing I must remind ya about before ya watch that DVD. There's one truth and only one truth. It can be filled with happiness and joy, or sorrow and despair. Even if the truth that ya find is the latter, ya can never give up hope. Be strong Charmy, we all need strength fer this trial."

With that, Vector left as I stood alone in the bio lab. I held the DVD, shaking. I wasn't sure what this thing had but…

One thing was certain: this disc contains true despair.

* * *

I stood in front of the door leading to the A/V room. It felt like yesterday being in here when we got our first murder motive. And yet, here I was again, opening the door and walking inside. The shadows on the wall felt like they were going to come after me the more I hung around, and I took a deep breath as I walked up to one of the computers. Turning it on, I sat down and opened the disc drive of the computer. Placing the disc inside, I closed it and let the disc play on its own.

"I hope it's nothing too bad…" I said to myself, waiting for the DVD to start up.

As it finally did, the screen turned black for a few seconds before cutting to a picture. I could see the back of a crocodile's head wearing a dark suit, and in front of him was…

"Cream?!" I said, grabbing the screen. There she was, clear as day, alive and in front of who I definitely knew to be Vector's uncle.

"Okay then, are you ready to begin?" said a male voice. This was no doubt Vector's uncle, who sounded less street sounding than his nephew did. "This video is meant for proof as in like… insurance. Y'get what I'm saying? Now then, let me get straight to the point. You know about everything going on so far. As a result, there is a chance that you may have to spend the rest of your life here in the school. Can you accept that?"

"Y-You want me to accept that?" Cream asked. I felt like crying. I didn't know how long it had been since I heard her voice.

But what she said next caught me off guard.

"Yes. I accept."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry about all this... Well, I can promise you that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. As the headmaster of Green Hills Zone, I give you my word."

The screen went black again.

There was a lot I hadn't understood up till now. But this...only this... I simply couldn't comprehend what I'd heard.

I remembered how much Cream wanted to get out of here. I know how much she wanted to escape and pursue her dreams with running her own bakery and making a garden empire with the flowers and vegetables she grew. I remember how much she wanted to be there with Vanilla as she grew older. She wanted all of that so bad that she tried to frame me for murder.

So... why?

Why would she say yes to living here for the rest of her life? Was all that a lie?

As I sat there thinking about it, I noticed a sudden light. On the monitor, the video that I thought was finished flashed back onscreen. My eyes darted back to the screen. And if I was confused before...what I saw next pushed me right over the edge.

Because the next person I saw being interviewed by Vector's uncle was…

 _Me._

It was the same conversation that Cream and the headmaster held. This looked like we were having a normal conversation like we knew each other, and yet we didn't. And just as I was trying to get over the shock of what I was seeing, I heard it.

"As a result, there is a chance that you may have to spend the rest of your life here in the school. Can you accept that?"

"…yes."

I had said yes too.

I was getting dizzy now. This is what Vector meant by things being even worse than we had thought. We… we all said yes to staying here in this zone for the rest of our lives. That's why Egg Robo was mad about us wanting to leave.

And soon enough, more interviews played. Shadow, Tails, Amy, Tikal, Wave, Jet, and… Vector…

It felt so surreal. There they were, talking like they were family, and yet Vector had this intense hatred for his uncle.

When his interview finished however, the lights in the A/V room went out.

"The power went out?" I asked. That's when Egg Robo appeared in front of me.

"Not in this whole zone it did! Looks like there was something wrong with the breakers for this room! It's a failure! Can't help it!"

Egg Robo vanished, and that's when I realized what he meant by 'failure'.

"…failure my ASS!" I yelled. "Come back here! You did this on purpose!"

I remembered what Vector said about losing his memory. I had lost mine too, and yet that disc contained everything about a memory I can't recall.

Just then, the sound of the bell played as the monitor turned on. The zone crest was displayed as Egg Robo appeared.

 _"For anything that has a start, there has to be an end. And if the end comes, then that means it's time for a fresh start. There is no night that doesn't have a dawn... Although that dawn is totally pitch-black! There is no storm that won't eventually end... Of course, then that leads to drought! But as I said, every end is the promise of a new beginning. Which is why I'm sure we'll get to meet again. Because the end is only the beginning! That quote is attributed to my late Grandfather, Geraldo Rosario Robo! A clever man, but too bad he died from sun exposure! Anyway, let's get started! The beginning of the end of the class trial! Everyone gather once again at you know where! Ho ho ho! HO HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

The monitor turned off as I shook in place.

At last… the final class trial.

The final battle between hope and despair…

* * *

"I had to do this."

I stared at the red doors, knowing this could be the last time I'd see them. I took a deep breath and went inside, finding that no one else was there.

"Yer early, Charmy," Vector said, walking inside. "Are ya prepared?"

"I dunno if prepared is what you call it but… yeah I think I am. Where's the others though?"

"Give it time."

Sure enough, one by one, Wave, Tikal, Silver, and Amy entered the lobby. However, all of them looked disturbed and refused to look at one another. I called for them all, but none of them responded.

That's when Egg Robo appeared. "Ooh, so we're all here! And we're all depressed too! Good! Those are the faces I wanna see you all make once you see it's futile to resist despair!"

"And yer gonna see how this truly will be the last class trial," Vector replied. "And dun forget, fair trial."

"You keep going on and on about 'fair trial', 'last trial', like shut up your virtue signaler! You're only saying that because you wanna keep feeling good about being hopeful! Well trust me buddy, I'm gonna show the audience at home that despair is ALWAYS mightier than hope!"

"Oh just SHUT UP and GO!" Wave yelled.

"Sure, whatever you say, sweetcheeks!"

Egg Robo vanished as Wave shook her head. "Come on. It's not like this will be hard."

The others went inside, continuing to stay silent as Vector and I looked at each other.

"That hint really messed with them all," I said.

"I know. And that's why we need to expose the truth," Vector replied. He proceeded to smile at me. "Ready to win?"

"Confident to win."

"That's the spirit. C'mon, let's go."

Vector walked to the elevator as I followed suite. The elevator door closed as it shook and began to descend.

It felt weird. To think that this all started with sixteen people on this elevator, and now, we were down to just us six. It was surreal knowing this would be the last time down these elevators, and the last time we'd enter the court room. I tried to stay calm on the outside, but on the inside, I was panicking HARD.

More and more, I heard the sound of metal clanking as my ears began to pop. I wasn't sure HOW deep this was going, but this was deeper than any place in the zone. Finally however, the elevator stopped. When the doors opened however, we were all hit with blinding light. Covering our eyes, I lowered my arm to reveal that the entire courtroom was… white. Like, it was as if there was no flooring, no wallpaper, no… nothing. It was a blank white void of… nothing.

"Do you like my symbolic court room?" Egg Robo asked as he popped up. "Pure white represents an abyss filled with nothingness. A world of emptiness and a world where one's mental state isn't correct. And more importantly, pure white represents the emptiness of criminals sent to the execution chamber! Because that's what this courtroom is gonna be! One giant execution chamber! Let's begin kiddies! I'm not sitting on my highchair, I'm gonna take up the vacant 16th seat! So come on, let's do this!"

And so, we all took our stands as Egg Robo stood in his stand. For the last time, the curtains of despair opened. This would no doubt be our last case of judgement, deception, betrayal, riddles, defenses, faith...

The forces of hope and despair would rise in this ultimate battle: the final Class Trial!

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	49. Chapter 7 (Class Trial (Part 1))

**(AN: Hi everyone.**

 **I first want to begin this chapter with a brief editorial.**

 **I'm sorry.**

 **I know it's been some time since I uploaded the last chapter, and honestly, I have no one to blame but myself. I've been working on this since the release of the Investigation part of Chapter 7. But at the same time, I was trying to balance doing school work AND internship work at the same time. And doing so much work at the same time with small windows to finish assignments for both really drained a lot of out me, and I found myself slacking more and more with writing.**

 **Even when I finished school earlier this month, I still just didn't have all the motivation to do anything because of how much I felt drained. Even now I should have uploaded this yesterday and forgot to. So for that, I'm sorry. And I feel bad too, because I really want to get this done before mid-June, because I have a lot of new stories to post and to plan out, including one that will be revealed when the Epilogue finishes. All I'm going to hint at is that if you're a fan of my older stories, you might get a kick out of this one.**

 **Regardless, I want to finish this story and present to you the rest of the story. And with only one more part before the Epilogue, I want to make sure I can do this. I wanna thank you all for waiting as I bring you the final Class Trial.**

 **Once again, I do hope you enjoy)**

* * *

 _At long last, the mastermind stands exposed and their crimes are set to be judged. But even the mastermind has many tricks up their sleeves… Can the remaining students of Green Hills expose the mastermind, uncover the truth about the death of Infinite the Jackal, and most importantly, the mystery of Green Hills?_

* * *

 **CLASS TRIAL**

 **ALL RISE!**

Egg Robo stood on a stool to be tall enough to be the same height as us. He was standing at the remaining stand that was empty throughout all our trials, likely Infinite's had he not been hidden. I looked at Espio's portrait, hoping that he could give me strength from beyond the grave.

"Ahem, now, as you all know, this is the very last trial! So, I've decided to make a new rule!" Egg Robo began. "So, listen up! I said so earlier but… the purpose of this trial is to not just uncover Infinite's killer, but also the mystery of this zone! If you can do that, you win! But, if you CAN'T… then I win! And as we know, if this room is anything to go by… the losers shall receive the ULTIMATE final punishment that'll guarantee that despair will always win to the world!"

"Just so I got mahself clear… if we lose, then ya execute us. But if YEH lose, then ya execute yerself?" Vector asked.

"As much as I don't wanna… well, I have to! You all won so… why would I still be alive? I gotta fulfill my promise after all!"

"Ya aren't gonna come up with any kinda loophole, any way to get outta it, are ya?"

"Jeez, can you not trust me?! If I'm certain about executing you all, then I'm certain about executing myself if I lose! Keyword, IF I lose!"

"Stop… I don't care about that… I just need to ask you one thing, Egg Robo…" Silver said in the most serious tone I've heard from him.

"Woahhh! Silver's taking this seriously? No dumb questions?! I'm shocked!"

"…the mastermind… is… is it only one person?"

I was surprised. In all this time, Silver never really proved himself to be of much use throughout the trials. But this was… he was asking a serious question that had merit. Did it have something to do with how he'd been acting earlier?

"What do you mean?"

"No… no no no… don't bother… When I already know that everyone here has a connection to the mastermind!"

Now I facepalmed. Just when I thought he had something intelligent to say.

"I have a connection to the mastermind?!" Tikal angrily replied. "Easy for you to say when _I_ can say the same for you!"

I darted my head in her direction. Tikal… never got this angry. And… and now she was accusing…

"Don't bother trying to lump me with your crowd," Wave said. "Deflecting the blame won't look good on you, pacifist girl."

Now Wave as well?

What… what was going on?

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"You've all been against me! I just know it! I have the proof right here in my pocket!" Silver began.

"How... ironic... I believe you're all out to get me, AND I have proof too..." Tikal replied. Amy slammed her fists down.

"Shut UP! You… you're all lying because I have the proof too!" she screamed.

"Well, what a coincidence. You all say you have your own proof, and so do I," Wave added. "And all your proof is subpar compared to the one I own, the one that proves that you're all working against me!"

"Uh... wait, how do we all have proof?" Silver scratched his head. "How do we ALL have evidence?"

That photo that Egg Robo provided us… Egg Robo set up that photo as a trap as a way for us to suspect each other. That's why…

"…you all don't have evidence!" I yelled out. "Because it's not just you four. I do too!"

"You as well, Charmy?!" Silver exclaimed.

"You're all trying to use the group photos that Egg Robo provided us, right?"

"Um… yes, that's right!" Tikal said. "What else could it be?"

I digged into my pockets and pulled out the photo I was given, the one showing everyone together in a classroom as the faces of everyone but Vector and Egg Robo changed.

"What in the?... Hey, that's not right! Mine's different!"

I felt a jolt when I heard that. I thought they had gotten the same image as me but… what does she mean hers is different?

My answer soon came when Tikal brought out a photo from her dress, and my heart felt like it was going to collapse.

The photo that Tikal had showed us depicted all us playing flag football on a bright and sunny day. Had it not been for the fact that Tikal was gone, I thought it would have been another memory of a P.E. class. But this…

"Amy, Wave, Silver, show me your pictures NOW. We need to clear this up," I said. The others pulled out their photos and I got to see what each contained. Silver's photo depicted all us in a classroom, sans him. Once again, some of us were posing while others were doing mundane tasks like eating during class, sleeping, drawing, or in the case of Jet… trying to photobomb it seemed.

Wave's picture depicted our class in an indoor swimming pool, all of us except her. The photo depicted some of us swimming, Tails and Sonic freaking out as Vector, Shadow, Storm, and Knuckles all diving into the pool at the same time, Big dipping his feet into the pool, likely too afraid to get in, while some of the others stayed by the bleachers. I wanted to chortle a bit when I saw Jet splashing water in Rouge's face, back turned away from the camera.

And finally, Amy's picture showed off our class on a snow day, some of us making big snow men, some of us in snowball fights, while others just simply stood around cold. Like the other images, Amy was nowhere to be found in the image. This was especially odd because Tails was off making snow angels with Cream and Sonic seemed rather… alone.

"So… the secret of the pictures has been revealed," I said.

"It's not a secret!" Silver exclaimed. "I don't care what the truth is or not! You guys have something to do with the mastermind! That's explains why I'm not in ANY of those photos!"

"But you're in MY picture!" Amy said. "I think that proves that you're all against ME, thank you very much!"

"Stop! Stop stop STOP!" I yelled. "Don't you all see?! The purpose of these photos was to get us questioning and have us fight amongst each other! That was the mastermind's new trap! To make us all think we're working against each other!"

"Huh? A… new trap?" Egg Robo asked. "That's beyond RUDE, Charmy! Why, I guess I shouldn't be shocked anymore since we all know how much of a little shit you are, but still! What proof do you even have that shows that it's a trap?! Ah ah, don't even say it! I bet it's fake!"

The proof I need to reveal Egg Robo's trap…

I remember that each photo had something in common, a connection between what person isn't shown in the group photos. The connection was…

"I got it!" I said. "So, we know that the only one not in the photos were the ones who received it. In the picture I got, I'm missing, and the one Tikal got? Same deal with the others, you get the idea. In other words, Egg Robo gave us a group photo in which that certain individual wasn't included."

"And so, once we'd see that image, we'd assume that the others are working with the enemy?" Silver asked.

"You're catching on."

"Ho ho ho… guess you already figured that part out, huh?" Egg Robo said.

"How in the hell is that even a hint?" Vector asked. "It's nothing but falsified testimony."

That's when I realized something. The purposes of these images in junction with what I already know…

There might be more to this than just Egg Robo trying to confuse us. I looked back at my image and tried to find it. However, so much was on my mind that I couldn't think about it.

 _"Alright, lemme just write it down,"_ I thought to myself, getting out my PAD. _"My image: I was gone, Infinite was there, Sonic was blocking Rouge's face and everyone was happy. Wave's image: everyone was swimming or by the bleachers."_

I stopped, groaning as I wasn't even sure as to what it was I was confused about.

"Look, let's just get off the topic of the photos!" Silver said. "Gah… I feel so foolish falling for such a fake photo!"

"And it really seems like we're all wearing something like a uniform!" Tikal added. "I can vouch that I've NEVER worn anything like this in my life!"

"So you're convinced they're fake, Ms. Echidna?" Egg Robo asked. "No… no no no! I can very MUCH assure you that they're all 100% real!"

"Impossible! How? How could it be REAL?!"

"I never took a picture like that!" Amy exclaimed. "I'd look better than that if those images were real!"

"But can we be sure?" I asked, everyone looking at me.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't recall taking these images either. And yet… just because we don't remember taking them doesn't mean they're completely fake."

"Then what's the reason?" Tikal asked.

The reason…

It isn't because the image was fake, another reason had to have been why.

A reason I had been thinking about ever since I saw the DVD back in the A/V room… An unbelievable and yet… realistic reason in our case.

"I… I really wish there was an easy way to say this. But… there isn't," I said. "Because I think I now understand so many things. Why we don't remember taking these pictures, the pictures we saw starting from unlocking the third floor… I believe it had to do with us losing our memories."

There was a collective shock between everyone except for Vector and Silver, the latter of which began to laugh.

"Ha ha, nice one!" he said. "Even in times like this, you still know how to make jokes, Charmy! Like, us losing our memory and forgetting the photo, ha ha, classic Charmy!"

But once he saw how serious I was, he soon grunted. "Tch, as if! What, you ACTUALLY expect me to believe we just lost our memory like we got abducted by aliens or something! Don't make me laugh! That's pathetic!"

"Besides, how could we all lose our memories! You can't force amnesia on someone! It's usually as a result of trauma or certain conditions!" Tikal added.

I sighed. I wasn't expecting them to believe it but… it was the truth, and no matter how much they wanted to close their eyes, they had no choice but to face the truth.

That's why I had to prove it besides using the pictures…

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Are you saying we all had amnesia? What are we in, sci-fi?!" Silver exclaimed.

"I haven't lost my memory; I swear on everything! Ever since I got to the zone, I remember everything that's happened since the day I arrived!" Tikal added.

"Yeah! So do I!" Amy nodded. "I even remember wearing my opal and jade bracelet I got from Tumble's Jewelers and getting a coffee on the way too! So, the idea that we lost our memories..."

"...is totally stupid!" Silver yelled at me. He was right, it WAS stupid but…

You remember EVERYTHING that's happened since the day you arrived? Not if the DVD is to disprove!

"No, that's wrong!" I pointed at Tikal. The echidna seemed shocked I was saying this to her. "The photos aren't the only thing that prove the memory loss. There's one piece of proof that seals the nail on the coffin! Let me show you-"

"It's not anything horrifying, is it?!" exclaimed Amy.

"Of course not! It's a DVD!" I held up the disc.

"AIE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S ON IT!"

"I thought Tikal was the prude, not you," Silver said.

"Anyway…" I continued. "I'm showing you this disc because on it, it contains interviews of all of us done by the headmaster of Green Hills."

"All of us… does that really mean…" Tikal said.

"Yes."

"I… I can't believe such a thing! I've never done an interview!"

I sighed. "Egg Robo, if you may?"

"Wanna show us the DVD? Sure, no problem! Just pray I didn't switch it out at the last second with something leeeeeeewd!" the robot replied, swiping the disc from me and putting it into his chair (which… somehow doubled as a DVD player?).

In a few seconds, the disc started like how I had first seen it, with Cream's interview, and then my own before Egg Robo cut it off.

"Okay, enough lookey!" he said. "You all get the idea, and you aren't gonna see the rest of it!"

"So ya see, Tikal?" Vector asked. "The headmaster did interview us, as yeh could tell from Cream and Charmy's interview. And both me and Charmy had seen more of the disc's content, and we can confirm that yes, ya WERE in it."

Tikal had grown quiet, her eyes wide as I knew the images and sounds from the video were racking her mind. Even Amy and Silver looked the same. Just a couple of seconds ago, Tikal was sure she knew everything about what she had done, and now we were essentially telling her that it's a lie and showing her proof that she did something she couldn't remember…

How could that make you feel?

"What… what are you saying?!" the echidna exclaimed.

"I doubt you'd remember. I didn't either," I replied.

"No! It's not whether I remember it's just… do you expect me to believe, well, THIS, Charmy?! That I just… lost my memories?! You don't know me! None of you do! I've lived my life to know that no such thing has happened to me!"

"But we have no way to refute it," Wave replied. "And you heard the bee: he didn't remember it either. That means we have no choice but to accept it as reality."

"How are you so accepting of this?!" Silver exclaimed. "You're the smart person here, and you mean to tell us that we just got amnesia without blunt force trauma or some kinda medical condition?!"

"It's not that I'm blindly accepting it, dorkfest. I have a few things on my mind as well. For example: Bee… you told us that the DVD contains recordings of all of us being interviewed by the headmaster, no? And in the two we saw, the bee and the rabbit were asked the same question, and they both said yes. That means we all replied-"

"No, right?! It was just you two who said yes!" Silver interrupted, but I shook my head.

"No, all of you said yes. Vector, Silver, Amy, Tikal, and Wave… all five of you said yes."

"W-Why would we say such a thing?! I'd never agree to anything like that!" Amy stomped her foot on the ground.

"I don't know, okay?! I couldn't remember a thing!"

"None of remembers a thing right? Nothin' 'bout livin' here forever, or even talkin' to the headmaster 'bout it?" Vector asked. There was pure silence in the room, no one daring to move or speak.

"Look, I don't care if I remember or not," Silver said. "Sure, I'll bite the whole amnesia theory, but I'm crossing the line at the whole 'I wanna stay here forever' thing! I'd never believe anything like that!"

"Ya can choose to hide from the truth, but we can't move forward unless ya accept that, got it?"

"I especially got it, cause it's all true!" Egg Robo replied.

"WHAAAT?!" Silver screamed.

"Think 'bout it, Silver. There have been many unusual circumstances that have occurred since we arrived at Green Hills. Is the idea of us gettin' amnesia really that hard to believe?" asked the crocodile.

"He's right. There's only one path in front of us," Wave added.

"We really… we really lost…" Amy hyperventilated, rubbing her arms.

"Yup! You all lost your memories at the same time!" Egg Robo continued.

"I… I don't even know where to go anymore. What do I believe? What do I say? I'm… I'm so lost!" Tikal cried.

"Silver was right when he said it was weird that our memory loss wasn't because of pain or some kind of condition. This isn't a normal case of memory loss… because YOU wanted to take specific memories from us, didn't you?!" I said, pointing at Egg Robo.

"Oops! Looks like case number #5 from the 'Sonic's Shitty Friends and more reasons why the Sonic series has gone downhill' study has figured it out!" the robot replied.

"Of course. It's like Charmy said: There's no way we'd all get amnesia at the same time, unless there was something planned that could do such a thing," Vector replied.

"My question is… how in the heck can someone steal memories?!" Amy exclaimed.

"How?" Egg Robo replied. "Oh girlie, don't you know that's not the right question you should be asking? What, would you believe any answer I give you? I could tell you it was hypnotism, or lobotomies, or writers having to look up your personalities online having no prior experience to your character! You all constantly go ON AND ON about how I MUST be lying, why bother to look at me? That doesn't matter right now!"

"I think what matters is figuring out what memories you took from us, no?" replied Wave.

"There goes smart alec Wave again!"

"The interview, the group photos… those must not be the only memories we lost. There's a specific reason you took those memories."

"Yeah, of course! It all has to do with the original motive!"

"Original… motive?" Amy asked.

"I think it's the first motive that we were given," I replied. "The videos, no?"

"Bingo bingo bingo!" Egg Robo added. "But, it's still a secret! So, no reveal this time! Regardless, we continue to go in circles, so I DO want to remind you all this IS a trial about the murder of Infinite the Jackal. There's plenty of time in the world to debate this, but how about maybe decide on who did it first before, eh?!"

Until we do that… Well, we had to explain everything by the end of this but explaining Infinite's death shouldn't be hard. The one who killed Infinite… the true mastermind… that's who we have to expose!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, who was it? Who killed Infinite?" Egg Robo began.

"Whoever did it, they're the true mastermind," Vector replied. "I'm certain of it."

"But... is the mastermind anywhere here in this zone?" said Silver, scratching his chin.

"Of course! They have to control Egg Robo somehow!" Tikal replied. Wave shot her a confused look.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked,

"Well, there's no way they're like a shadow, right?"

"I think that they have to be far away. I mean, wouldn't it make sense for them to be so far away from the zone so we couldn't find them?" Amy predicted.

As soon as she said that, I remembered what happened between Tikal and I during the investigation.

"No, that's wrong!"

"C-Certain about that?!" Amy squealed. "I-Is there evidence?"

I did. Rather, WE did. Right, Tikal?" I said. "During our investigation, Tikal and I were able to access the Egg Robo door in the Data Center, where we found a panel with a control board that's able to control Egg Robo from anywhere in the zone. I can only predict that the control panel is how Egg Robo is being controlled now just throughout our time here, but also right now! That means the mastermind has been here the whole time!"

"He's right," Wave said. "And that also means there's no doubt that the mastermind is one of us."

"A-Are you sure?" Tikal asked.

"Let's discuss what Egg Robo said to Charmy earlier. Something about how the killing game started with 18 people that entered Green Hills, and that no one else entered the zone besides us 18. If the mastermind is the zone, we can only assume it is the 18th student."

I began to think about the mastermind again. I was thinking about earlier the idea that the mastermind was someone we thought of as dead. Now that I think about, I never stopped to think about the original three people who died.

Cream, Rouge, and Tails…

It's been so long since I thought of one of them that perhaps their early death would mean they knew we'd forget about them while they just faked their death in front of us? The idea of imagining Cream being the mastermind made me even sicker than thinking about how she lay in my bathroom, throat slit.

"We're all that's left of everyone that survived the killing game…" Silver shuddered. "W-Well, I can tell you I'm not it! See! My hands are up! You can check my pockets too, no weird mastermind controly thingy!"

"I can confirm it's not me either!" Tikal added.

"And me!" Amy said. "But… what about someone like… like Charmy!"

"HUH?!" I responded with anger. "Why ME?!"

"Well… isn't it just a LITTLE weird how you were gonna be executed and yet you not only survived, but managed to crawl out of a dump?"

"Didn't you forget Ditz AND Vector saved me?!"

"Uh-oh, faster than you can say, 'Sonic Boom should have gotten a season 3', ya got me!" Egg Robo giggled.

"W-What are you pulling?!" I said. "I call slander!"

"Everyone, shuddup!" Vector yelled. "There's no reason to panic."

"You're doing that just now!" Silver replied.

"Shush. I think the mastermind's true identity will be clear eventually, but all this squabblin' and actin' like kids is exactly what they want, to get the spotlight off them and onto someone else. We'll talk 'bout that once we find out who killed Infinite."

"He's right," the swallow replied. "Let's focus our minds on solving this mystery."

"We've wasted enough time trying to solve this murder. What else is there?" Silver asked.

"If ya think we ran out of topics, let me throw one at yeh all," Vector replied. "Not ONCE have we talked about Infinite's fatal injury."

"The injury?" Tikal asked. "I mean, I thought it had something to do with the gunshot."

"How could someone actually obtain a weapon in a place like this? Especially after you attack someone, right Charmy?"

"That's right," I nodded. "As you all know, Infinite came to my room to kill me, and then, he wound up dead. While it is true we know that's how he died, this would mean that someone killed Infinite knowing that he failed to kill me, which means they had the weapon on them prior to the murder."

"But how can it?" Silver said. "All our stuff got taken away! You can't sneak a gun in that case!"

"Not unless you're someone who has a connection to the mastermind, you can."

"Huh?"

"I likely believe that the mastermind had come to this zone with the weapon in hand. Not to kill others, but to kill Infinite should he fail his task. Remember, he came to Green Hills fer one reason: to kill me," replied Vector.

"What do you mean the mastermind? What's to say that isn't Infinite's weapon?" Amy said.

"What do you mean?" Tikal asked.

"He's the Ultimate Mercenary! The fact he would have a gun on him doesn't seem out of the ordinary, right?"

"No, you're wrong," Vector said.

"Wow, harsh. Do you at least have a reason?"

"I do. Care to listen?"

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Wasn't Infinite the Ultimate Mercenary?" Amy asked. "The idea that he had a gun on him doesn't seem impossible! Besides, when you think about it, if he's a mercenary, he's probably been in so many different battles! Don't you remember that he was stabbed too? It isn't just the gunshot, you know!"

Vector sighed. "Are ya finished? Couldn't ya be anymore wrong?"

"You denied me... actually I guess I am wrong huh?"

"Yes. Yes you are…" Silver said, shaking his head.

It makes sense when you think about Infinite's past as a mercenary, but Infinite was a student like us too. With the documents from the headmaster's room, it shows…

"It has nothing to do with stab wounds!" I yelled. "Infinite never suffered stab wounds prior to his arrival to Green Hills! The documents I found in the Headmaster's office all contain detailed descriptions about each of us, including physicals as well. And Infinite has no such record of suffering a stab wound anywhere, even after his time as leader of the Jackal Squad!"

"Geez, I guess my argument has fallen apart completely…" Amy replied.

"That means we can infer that all the wounds Infinite suffered from came during his time at Green Hills. One of them is the very thing that killed him, although, I'm leaning towards the gun theory!"

"It's hard to imagine, but Charmy is right about his theory. During mah autopsy of the body, I noticed that the stab wounds seemed to be made after Infinite was shot, in that case, meaning that he was already dead when he was shot."

"Unless anyone has an objection, then I think we can say with certainty that it was his gunshot wound to the chest that killed Infinite the Jackal!"

"Okay so… if that's what killed him… How long has he even been dead? We said after his failed attack, but how long SPECIFICALLY from the time he failed from before we found the body?" Silver asked.

"Dorkfest? Where are you going with this?" Wave added.

"I can't help but wonder… Do you think that maybe Infinite has been dead for longer? Like, perhaps the mastermind tried to kill Charmy posing as Infinite, all while he's been dead for a long time?"

"That's… that's actually-"

I was a bit surprised by Silver's line of thinking, but my surprise was taken away once HE began to talk.

"HO HO HO!" Egg Robo laughed.

"What's so funny?" Tikal glared.

"Oh, don't mind me. It's getting real boring listening to you all talk, so I'm gonna butt in! Let me ask you a nice question: you're assuming that either A. I attacked Charmy, or B. I ordered Charmy to be attacked, correct? But, that's just an ASSUMPTION, right? Even if Infinite did try to kill you, what's the proof that I shot him? Any evidence at all?"

Well, one thing was for sure: Infinite had an obvious Jackal Squad tattoo atop his hand. All the proof lies within that tattoo!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"You have no proof I killed Infinite! After all, I abide by all my rules! And my rule is to let you kill one another unless you break a rule! I'm telling you; Infinite the Jackal is Charmy's attacker, AND I had nothing to do with his murder!"

"You're wrong. We do have something that proves you had some connection to his murder," Vector replied.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"A motive!" I said.

"Motive…?"

"As we mentioned earlier, you brought Infinite to Green Hills, his entire purpose to him being here was to play his role as Ultimate Despair: killing Vector once he saw he was getting to close to solving the truth! But of course, I soon became the target once you started fearing me."

"I mean, sure, but that still doesn't prove that was me! I might have a reason for doing so, but that doesn't still mean I did it! Weren't you just arguing that no one could have snuck in a firearm? How would I have done so? I've been here the whole time with you!"

"Silver, Amy, Tikal, and myself all have solid alibis for the entire night," Wave said. Silver pointed at him.

"Yeah, we were tearing you apart, so don't even try it!"

"O-Okay, so MAYBE you guys weren't it… b-but-but uh! Uh! What about Vector?! Yeah that's right, Vector! You all think he's weird and mysterious, right?"

Vector stood silent, glaring at the robot.

"No snappy comeback? Wow, that's a shock coming from you! That means we totally got you!"

"As we all know, Infinite has a tattoo of the Jackal Squad on his hand, and yet I have these gloves on. But, if you REALLY wanna say I'm his murderer…"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Showin' ya the one proof I have that shows it wasn't me-"

And then, right there, Vector had taken off his gloves. What I saw was ghastly. Vector's hands were… horrifically scarred, with cuts and burns everywhere, even skin was peeling off. I could hear Tikal dry heaving as Amy sticking her tongue out in disgust.

"Awful, ain't it?" the crocodile asked.

"I… I suppose so," Wave replied.

"Gosh… I can't look away…" Silver added.

"It happened when I was first startin' out mah detective career. I was a rookie, and well, mah scars now are the proof I have of my incompetence."

"You didn't want anyone to see those scars…" I said.

"I dun mind as long as we have one piece of evidence that proves I'm not the mastermind."

I noticed throughout the entire time; Vector had been very calm. Maybe now he finally accepted this part of him, the part that he tried burying with his more professional attitude. Through all the poker faces, moments of anger, and even times where he'd let himself be a little silly, there was one thing Vector didn't like to discuss, and that was his issues as an individual.

People weren't perfect, and for Vector, all of his deformities were a reminder that he couldn't really hide the wrong parts of him. But doing this…

Vector proceeded to put his gloves back on and sighed.

"Okay, time fer these to go back on. Gosh, they hurt when mah gloves aren't on… But regardless, that should be yer proof. Charmy; did yer attacker have scars like mine?"

"No. The only thing the body I found in the garden had was the Jackal Squad tattoo."

"Then there's no way doubt it anymore: the one who attacked Charmy is the true mastermind!"

Egg Robo stared at his feet, trying to not look up. Suddenly, he began to laugh.

"Ho ho ho… this is just awful!" he said. "My secret's been let out, and I have to stare at your ugly hands! I mean really, there's a reason these designers make you all wear gloves! Oops, did I say that out loud? Well, you know what they say: facts don't care about your feelings! Especially when facts are just your own personal opinions that you like to treat as a fact because some guy on the internet said it's true!"

"Go ahead, say whatever ya want. I dun care," Vector said.

"Giving me permission to say whatever I want? Well, I won't say anything bigoted out of fear for getting called out for a naughty word-"

"So you'll be called out for that and not the whole 'making us commit murder thing'?" Silver sighed. Egg Robo shut his mouth and stared at Silver.

"I'll just ignore your stupidity and continue. I might be far into the corner, but I'm not the corner itself, Vector! Maybe you haven't noticed, the circumstances behind Infinite's death are unknown!"

"He does have a point," Tikal said. "Our main basis for Infinite was that he was killed this morning."

"Do you know anything else besides that?" Silver added. Wave groaned.

"Let me guess: you're going to ask if he was already dead before he arrived here, right?"

"Ho ho ho!" the robot laughed. "In that case, you have nothing to worry about! I can, swear on my heart, promise you that he died after the killing game began here!"

"Then that means he was killed in secret…"

"Yeah, and after he died, who knows how long it'd been before we found him! I was saying that earlier too, what's the time frame from after Infinite's failed attack and before we found him? I don't think he was in the garden the whole time…"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you leave a body out for super long, it like… goes foul, right?" Amy asked. "Sorry, I never was good at like my science or health classes."

"Are you trying to say he was stored somewhere and then let out for us to conveniently find?"

"To hide a body… it's true we don't know where the dead go, but there's no way Infinite should still be that normal looking after his death,"

And that's when it hit me that the others didn't know about one crucial part, one crucial area that'll hopefully get us closer to solving the truth.

"Guys, I don't know if you were aware of this, but I think this entire time, Infinite's body was being kept in the bio lab," I said.

"The… bio lab? The fifth floor bio lab?" Amy asked.

"You were there too, Amy. What did you find there?"

"A-A… bo-body…"

"A body?!" Tikal gasped.

"That's right," I nodded. The bio lab is being used for a makeshift morgue. It's the perfect place to hide a body and keep it preserved to prevent decomposition."

"And what? The body was moved from the bio lab to the garden for Rosie to conveniently find?" Wave asked.

"I have no doubt that's what happened. In fact, here's my proof! Something was used to carry Infinite from the bio lab to the garden. The tarp we found in the shed! Checking it again, I noticed that the same tarp was in the bio lab, and I knew that because on the corner of each tarp, there's a stamp that reads, 'BIO LAB' on it."

"It's so small too… how did you notice it?" Silver asked.

"Because you know how the bee is: nitpicky in absolute nature…" Wave replied.

"The killer moved the body to the garden, using the tarp to wrap them up with it," Vector continued. "They left it as it was, preventing the sprinklers from getting' the body wet, and then put the coat on and stabbed the body afterwards."

"Maybe it's just me, but I remember that it's the same thing Storm did with my Darling Sonic!" Amy said. "He used the tarp to prevent blood from dripping onto the floor so we didn't know he moved Sonic's body!"

"That's actually correct!" Tikal gasped. Egg Robo bounced in place, sweating.

"B-But that's just a wild guess!" he said. "Your evidence, Vector? Where is your evidence?!"

"There's no evidence. I was simply explainin' what I think happened, although, yer reaction there says a lot more than my lack of proof…" the crocodile replied.

"What do you mean reaction?!"

"And now we're talkin' 'bout the bio lab. Guess yer getting' a lil' nervous, huh? I bet that's cause the key to uncoverin' yer secret identity is in that room, no?"

"Are we… whoa, we're ACTUALLY gonna uncover the mastermind?" Silver asked.

"Yeh see, the bio lab has one inconsistency – one so major ya can't ignore."

I immediately knew what he was talking about.

"BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Egg Robo sung in an annoying tone, covering the side of his shell. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"Ugh, what a baby. Movin' on…" Vector muttered.

He was right… the inconsistency in the-

"Hey, by the by, Charmy, what about that one thing?!" Egg Robo asked.

"What… one thing?"

"Ho ho ho… what do you think I'm talking about? I mean… your family."

That struck me like a hot knife as soon as he mentioned them. I remembered my video, and the faces of my family. Mom, Dad, and Saffron all happy in the living room…

"Don't tell me you forgot…" the robot said. "..your poor little family? Do you think they're still okay?"

"W-Why are you bringing that up now?!"

"Charmy, ignore him! He's just tryin' to trick ya!" Vector yelled.

"Shut up! Let me ask Charmy: What do you think happened to your family? Are they as safe as you think they are!"

"Stop talking about them like you knew them!" I yelled.

"Charmy, that's enough! Yer givin' him what he wants!"

I looked at the crocodile and sighed. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps I WAS giving Egg Robo what he wanted. I can't let him get to me. He's trying to use anything he can to get the attention off of him due to the bio lab's truth. If I want him to shut him up… I need to prove the inconsistency…

"Stop thinking, Charmy!" Egg Robo yelled. "I mean, are you SURE about the decision you're making so far? Are you REALLY REALLY sure? I don't think you know what you're even talking about it! And frankly, once I see for myself that you don't know what you're talking about, then punishment is waiting for you! Because all you need is PROO-"

"This should prove it! The lights!"

Egg Robo grasped his mustache, pulling it.

"What ABOUT the lights?!"

"I said before that the bio lab acts as a morgue, and as a result, there are multiple fridges in there, most definitely containing the bodies of everyone who's died here."

"And of course, it was set up so that once a body was placed in the morgue, a blue ticker would light up signifyin' that the fridge was in use," Vector added.

"But I counted the number of blue lights in the room and found something odd. At first, I thought that it was wrong because Infinite was still in the garden, but after finding out he wasn't, I was naturally a bit surprised when I saw that only eleven lights were on!"

Silver looked puzzled. "…why does that matter?"

Because…

"Eleven lights shouldn't have been on. The correct number should have been twelve!" I said.

"Wait a minute…" Amy said. "How many people have died here, exactly?"

"Cream, Rouge, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Sonic, Storm, Jet, Big, Blaze, Espio, and Infinite all make a perfect twelve," replied Vector.

"So you mean that… one person is still alive?" Tikal asked.

"I think it goes without saying that any other number should be suspicious," I continued.

"But… couldn't the mastermind take out a body? It's not like a body can wake up and walk away! Maybe they destroyed a body to get rid of evidence."

"If the mastermind wanted to do that, they'd destroy Infinite's body, since they killed him. And yet, his body was left alone."

"So… what do we do? Whose body isn't in there?"

"Well, how about we suspend this trial temporarily and let us go on down to the bio lab and see for ourselves? We wouldn't know either way until then," Wave asked.

"Denied! Uh uh! Not gonna happen!" Egg Robo yelled.

"I dun think it has anythin' to do with a body disappearin' or bein' destroyed," Vector replied.

"But if that's true, why doesn't the body count match?" asked the pink hedgehog.

"Well, let's recall everything again: includin' Egg Robo's executions, twelve deaths have occurred here. However, the bio lab only has eleven bodies. That's the point we're tryin' to make."

"Guys, you're losing me!" Tikal whined. "How can the number of bodies be less than the number of murders?!"

Less bodies than murders…

Why is that? What would it take for it to make sense?

I looked through my clues, trying to find an answer. Something about how this was all being framed wasn't giving me a good feeling, and I hoped that looking through something would give me at least SOME semblance of an answer.

Twelve deaths and yet only eleven bodies… Could one of them have been-

I stopped. I never really CONSIDERED the idea. I mean, how? You can't fake a death like what I saw.

…unless…

"I'm gonna go on a limb and say this," I said. "I think it's because someone we knew faked their death."

There was a visible reaction between everyone.

"Faked a death?!" Silver said.

"How? You can't fake deaths like these!" Amy said.

"I know it sounds strange," I continued. "But think of it like this: as we know, officially, twelve murders have occurred here. But what if one of those deaths were faked, done so in a way that we likely wouldn't expect."

"Likely we wouldn't expect?" Tikal asked.

"Wouldn't you say that in that case, twelve murders have happened, but only eleven are accounted for?"

"I think I get what you mean bee, but…" Wave said.

"It's somethin' that could happen. Nah, it IS what happened," the crocodile replied.

"You sound certain. What for? Can you tell us who that person was?"

"I can't say NOW, but what I think is what happened was… someone was killed posing as someone else."

Even I was shocked like the others. I thought someone was just faking their death, but now we're settling for 'faking one's identity'?!

"So, what you're saying is that whoever was killed that isn't in the bio lab...wasn't in there out of the mastermind's fear that we would notice that they're someone else?"

"W-Who? Who is it?!" Silver yelled.

"Shut up, all of you!" Egg Robo said. "What, you think you could just disguise yourself as someone and you'd easily pass? What kind of stupid idea is that? You'd NEVER get away with anything like that! Besides, do you even have an idea who it is? Huh? HUHHHHH?!"

"While I can't say fer certain, I think it has somethin' to do with what the zone has archived, versus what yeh archived, Egg Robo," Vector replied. I looked down at my PAD.

The profiles, of course…

But before I could even turn it on, I thought back to what I thinking about regarding Cream. Was she really the mastermind? What if her sudden heel turn wasn't because she had been wanting to get out, but because someone was able to disguise as her and fake her personality. But if that was the case, I could only imagine how Cream would be like as the mastermind. She still wouldn't be the sweet, innocent girl I knew her to be.

So, whose death didn't seem right? Everyone had such awful ways of dying, it'd be easy to tell who was or wasn't the real person with the autopsies we've done.

"Let me get this STRAIGHT to ya, croc: NOTHING is gonna become obvious! You think you solved this WHOLE thing, huh? That you found out the true answer and you're gonna save the day? Let me give it to you straight, buddy! You just came up with theories! Theories and nothing else! Sayimg 'oh I think' isn't gonna cut it, you wretch! I think you've gone delusional!"

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"So, who is this person that came back to life even though they're supposed to be dead? Was it... Cream the Rabbit? Rouge the Bat? Miles 'Tails' Prower? Knuckles the Echidna? Shadow the Hedgehog? Sonic the Hedgehog? Storm the Albatross? Jet the Hawk? Big the Cat? Blaze or Tiki or whatever the Cat? Or maybe it was... Espio the Chameleon? No no! There's no way someone could have just come back to life! There's no way someone would fake their own death!" Egg Robo taunted. He was right, no one could really come back to life.

Unless…

I thought back to the hint Wave had given me back in the headmaster's office. And something… something else…

There was someone I noted who was a bit strange. Someone that Wave told me wasn't odd at all but now that I thought back to it…

I quickly pulled up the document and my PAD, pulling up the profile section in the latter and dug through both until I found who I was looking for.

 _"ROUGE THE BAT…"_ I read back to myself.

 _"…Sex: F_

 _Weight: 98.1lbs_

 _Height: 3'4"_

It seemed right as is, until I noticed something about the picture.

 _The clear as day mole on her cheek._

"No…" I muttered to myself, flipping to Rouge's document in the headmaster's file. Pulling it up, I read the same header, and when it came to her vitals… two things struck out as… as…

 _"Weight: 97.5lbs_

 _Height: 3'5"_

My heart stopped. Could… could I prove this?

"I think… I think I know," I said.

"What?!" Egg Robo said.

"It sounds like a stretch, but I need you all to listen closely. In the headmaster's office, Wave gave me a profile containing the information for everyone at Green Hills. One set of information is the vitals and pictures for everyone here. As I'm sure you all know, our PAD's also contain information about us as well."

"Where are you going with this?" asked Amy.

"I want to show you a picture," I held up the photo of Rouge. "This here is Rouge's picture. Seems pretty normal, right?"

Everyone except Vector looked unconvinced.

"But now take a look at her in the PAD's profiles."

I held up my PAD, showing the picture of Rouge with a mole on her cheek. Amy was the first to notice it.

"Hey, her mole is there!" she said.

"That's right. Now, I'm not sure if you all met Rouge, but she mentioned something when I first met her. She mentioned that she had a mole on her cheek that she tries to cover up with makeup, and due to it, she often gets confused for her twin sister, Opal."

Slowly I could see the realization seep onto the faces of the others.

"But that's not all," I continued. "Next, let me read to you Rouge's vitals in both the PAD and the document. Rouge's weight and weight in the PAD is 98.1 pounds, 3'4. But her document stats something unusual: her weight is 97.5, and height is 3'5."

"But how can this be? We watched Rouge get stabbed with a bunch of spikes on the floor…" Tikal said. "Surely that can't be faked… can it?"

"Let's put this into perspective: Rouge, or someone going by that name, was killed by the spikes on the gym floor. However, we know that this person has conflicting information with what the headmaster wrote about Rouge, namely in that her height, weight, and picture are all incorrect. Not to mention, it's likely that Rouge's body was kept in the bio lab until it was open for all of us to explore, likely to avoid anyone noticing that the body doesn't match her description," Wave explained. "Remember; Charmy said that Infinite's body wasn't in the garden during this investigation, so it's likely that the mastermind took out Rouge's body and replaced it with Infinite's for the purpose of this investigation."

"Then it matches up, right?" I asked. "Someone was posing as Rouge, and the real Rouge is still alive!"

"My question is… who the heck is the other person then?" Silver asked. "How do we know that the body isn't the REAL Rouge, and that the mastermind was the person posing as Rouge? Hhh… what does this mean?"

"It means that while there were twelve victims, eleven are only counted towards this killing game, since the REAL Rouge the Bat isn't dead," Wave replied. "And besides, you said it yourself, right Bee?"

Of course, she had to mean…

"…her mole, right?"

"Who did she say she got confused with? You said so earlier."

"Her sister, Opa-"

And then it hit me WHO that Rouge was.

Who the true mastermind was…

Someone who made it seem like they died, but they were still alive. Someone who swapped places, faked their own death, and had been controlling everything from afar…

 _It was Rouge… using her sister as decoy._

"Yo-You're saying her sister Opal and Rouge are the same person?!" Amy exclaimed.

Egg Robo continued to stay silent.

"Am… am I right?"

"That's right," I said. "Rouge is still alive. It's the only possibility."

"No, what if this has something to do with Infinite?!" Silver asked. "Maybe… maybe Infinite swapped places?"

"How can a jackal pose as a bat?" questioned Wave.

"I don't think that's the question we should be asking. I think the question we should be asking is, which one of the documents is correct?" I said. "Either the file from the headmaster's room or the PAD is lying to us."

"Wait, how can we be sure that Opal isn't the mastermind? Maybe Rouge made it so that she looked like her and she was actually the one that died…" Silver asked.

"I took a look at the body and from what I remember, the mole didn't look fake, and since her vitals are different on both the PAD and the document… then I think it's safe to say that Opal's information was the one on the PAD and Rouge's…"

"So the idea that Rouge is still alive?..." asked the orange echidna.

"It's not impossible."

"Ho ho ho! You still sound so uncertain though! It sounds like you're grasping for straws,, bee! At this point, you might as well throw in the towel and call this case decided! Ho ho hooooo!" the robot said, mocking me. Was my argument really not that convincing enough?

That was until…

"This case ain't decided just yet," said Vector.

"Huh? You're trying to go against me?"

"Charmy, dun tell me yer gonna lose motivation now, are yeh? And yer even on the right track too…"

"I… am?" I asked. "Wait, no! Of course not! You even said it yourself, I'm on the right track! So why would I back down now?!"

"Well this is fine and cute, but tell us bee, how are you going to prove without a shadow of a doubt that the "Rouge" we saw was actually her twin sister. We still don't know which piece of information is telling the truth," Wave said.

"How 'bout we look at this from another angle…" Vector replied. Tikal turned her head.

"Another angle?"

"How could Rouge die if we assume that she was alive?"

Well, I did check her as I said… and the way the body matches up with Opal's… but how would I know each vital? They're near identical, almost scary for a pair of twins.

But if she was still alive…

There's two things I thought about in that moment. The first: how was it that Rouge was able to swap places with her sister? I assume that the Rouge that was supposed to be here with us was the real one, but after the mastermind knocked us all out, she used her sister as a decoy because we wouldn't remember what she looked like. And second… the thing Rouge said before she died.

 _It was almost like she wasn't expecting it._

"I think I got it," I said. "I know not only how Rouge is still alive, but also the method in how it was done!"

"You… do?" asked Amy.

"There was a key idea in my head about how this could have been achieved. Did you notice how Rouge seemed almost confused at her death, how she 'wasn't expecting this'? It's easy to write it off as she didn't want to die so early, or in our context, Rouge getting betrayed, but think about this: Our only source of information about Rouge, or should I say Opal, came from the PAD! We wouldn't know a thing about her, so why would we question it?"

"So then how did Opal die if we watched Rouge die?" Silver asked.

"Simple. Opal replaced Rouge and let her die in her place. This likely wasn't in their plans, which is why Opal was caught off guard by the attack! And this must explain the difference in PAD measurements!"

"But how could she swap places with Rouge as the spikes killed her?" asked the pink hedgehog. "You couldn't kill someone and swap on the spot."

"So I assume this is yet another dead lead…" Tikal said, upset.

"It's not," I replied. "Something I had thought about was maybe Opal and Rouge didn't swap places before her death, but instead, one was the other for our whole time at Green Hills."

"From the beginning?!"

"From the moment we first met in the gathering hall, that was never Rouge! Likely, they switched around the same time we all woke up! That explains how they didn't switch on the spot at the time of her murder!"

"You mean to say that "Rouge"… was really Opal all this time?!" Silver exclaimed.

"Well, if you've been following along, yes."

"We already met Opal?! Then… what's Rouge like?! I had like, one normal conversation with Rouge about her makeup! What do you mean she's another person all together?!" Amy exclaimed.

"Likely, Opal used this to her advantage and hid her identity so we wouldn't know the truth," Wave said. "It's as Charmy said: we wouldn't know because the PAD had all the false information about her and we don't remember a thing."

"There's one more thing I wan't to bring up…" I said. "There was something me and Rouge, or, Opal and I discussed when I first introduced myself to her. I recognized her from pictures that were everywhere online. She mentioned that she wasn't proud of her mole, and she hid it with makeup so she wouldn't get confused with her sister."

"Then what, Rouge and Opal both have a mole on their face? How rare is it even for a pair of twins to have a mole in the same area?" asked Silver.

"As our local makeup connoisseur, I can say that it is possible to hide moles using good color corrector and concealer…" Amy said. "But even if Rouge did have a mole just like Opal, this would mean EVERY photo of her had to be during a time where she had makeup covering her mole, and likely, considering her ultimate status, why would you need to cover it up with makeup?"

"Correct," Vector replied. "Even if the mole wasn't clear, I couldn't say fer certain it wasn't Opal. A deliberate way of hidin' ones identity… but it ain't good enough, Egg Robo! Yeh can no longer deny this anymore!"

The robot continued to stay silent.

"A deliberate set up from the very beginning…" Tikal mused. "But… why? Why would Rouge kill her own sister?! Murder in its own is already horrific enough as is but… but sororicide is-!"

"If it's all true, this is one elaborate plan. Making it look like Opal was Rouge…" Wave said.

"It's elaborate cause the two of them were workin' together. And… and I think it ain't just those two. There was someone else workin' with them, someone else who we didn't know about. Yeh know who I'm talkin' 'bout, right Charmy?" asked Vector, nodding towards my direction. There was only one person the mastermind worked with that we knew all along, the person sent to kill either myself or Vector…

"Infinite," I replied. "All three of them were working together behind everything in this zone. That means… it would be fair to say that all three of them are the Ultimate Despairs!"

Vector's message in his notebook made sense now. ' _All three despairs shall rise'_ … he knew about Rouge, Opal, and Infinite's plan prior to the erasure of his memory!

Egg Robo looked incredibly guilty as he hung his head, likely realizing he was in a hole he couldn't get out of.

"What's wrong?" Vector taunted. "Lost the will to fight? Realized that its futile to try and resist us? Dun give us the silent treatment anymore, Rouge! We know yeh can hear us!"

"She's afraid," Tikal said, glaring at the robot next to her. "She knows she's going to falter for the horrific crimes she's committed."

"Afraid? Crimes I've committed? What do those mean?" the robot asked. "For me to be afraid, that would mean that hope exists in this room. And look around you: walls as white as snow, no noise except the sounds of our voices. Honestly, it's a miracle that you all haven't been driven crazy by the noise. But I don't, because I'm not afraid, or disturbed. My only emotion is despair, so that's why things like fear are foreign to me."

"Then why haven't you shot back at anything we've said?!" Wave questioned.

"Because it's stupid! I mean, ask yourself: ROUGE is my secret identity? Ms. Fanservice herself? That would mean she's some kinda evil sexy seductress mastermind, and that's not what a mastermind is! They're someone who's cunning, someone who has their ideals in one area, not caring about how or what to do to reach them! You all saw Rouge! She had humanity, something a mastermind lacks! Ho ho ho! Don't LAUGH!"

"Then why did you protect Rouge's real identity? Why did you try to hide that Infinite had a connection to Rouge and her sister?" I asked.

"…I tried to protect Rouge's identity and her connection to Infinite? Mind actually telling me instead of accusing me?"

His refusal to accept the truth spoke volumes to me. He can deceive us all he wants, I know how he did so…

"There were a few peak moments when such a thing occurred. The first time was back in the A/V room during the investigation. While watching the DVD Vector gave me, you shut off all the power in the room before I could finish watching the disc. Ironically, it was just before the parts where the headmaster interviewed Rouge and Infinite. The reason you did that… was so that I wouldn't see the REAL Rouge and Infinite, right?!"

"Right!" Silver exclaimed. "Charmy, who did you see in that video before it cut off?"

"Cream, Myself, Shadow, Tails, Amy, Tikal, Wave, Jet, and Vector. After his, it cut off."

"So you didn't see Storm, Knuckles, Sonic, Big, Blaze, Espio, Rouge, or Infinite's interviews. Interesting…" Wave mused.

"No doubt that if Charmy saw the real Rouge, he'd know the one he knew was an imposter!" Tikal added. "And plus there's Infinite too…"

"D-Don't you go blaming this on me!" Egg Robo exclaimed. "It was a fluke! It just conveniently went off in the entire building and you didn't know! I swear t-to you, I'm telling the truth!"

Now I could tell the robot was getting anxious. It wasn't a fluke, they DELIBERATELY caused a power outage so I wouldn't know the truth. And sure enough, this wasn't the only time the mastermind covered up Rouge's identity… I looked into my pieces of evidence, and I remembered the photo I was given. Looking at it again, as soon as I saw the comical section where Sonic's arm covered Rouge's face, I had my final argument.

With this last piece of evidence, I knew I had Egg Robo right where I wanted him!

Egg Robo continued to growl and pull his moustache. "Look at you! Getting me all riled up and enjoying this… I bet you like this don't you?! Well, better luck next time! You have no evidence, that I tried to hide her IDENTIT-"

"NO, you did! This should prove it!" I yelled, pointing at him as the robot smashed the top of his head, his shell slightly cracking. "The group photos you've been so intent on giving us!"

"O-Oh… uh… u-uhhh ooooooh!"

"Each photo has something interesting that I noticed in mine, and likely extends to the rest. Here-" I revealed the picture. "Notice something odd about Rouge here. Notice how Sonic is playfully covering Rouge's face. You never see what her face looks like. And guys? Are your photos like that?"

Wave, Amy, Tikal, and Silver got out their photos and one by one, they each had their own reaction.

"Hey, he's right!" Tikal said.

"Her back is turned from the camera!" Silver added.

"And she's getting splashed by Jet, ironically covering her face at the right moment," Wave said.

"What does this mean?" the pink hedgehog asked.

"That something is unusual for her face to be covered in EVERY photo," I said. "And yet, Infinite is in all of them and in plain view. So why would Rouge's face be covered? Because she hadn't swapped places with Opal, that's why! There's no doubt that the girl's face hidden in all photos is the real Rouge, with no mole or anything! Because we'd know the truth about her identity if we saw that the Rouge in the pictures didn't match with the Rouge we knew!"

"AAGH, FOR THE LOVE OF SUB SANDWICHES!" Egg Robo yelled, trying to pull his suit.

"Everything Charmy has said is true," Vector said. "These pictures were taken during a point where Rouge and Opal hasn't switched places."

"Which would mean therefore, Rouge killed Opal, who was impersonating her, making it seem like she died. And the real Rouge… is still alive. I'd even bet this real Rouge is the one responsible for getting Infinite involved, likely altering his memories so that he'd serve her and do her bidding when it was time for me or Charmy to die," Wave continued.

"And that's it. The mastermind, the one behind these awful events, this killing game, is no more than Rouge the Bat! Ultimate Despair!" I said, pointing at the robot.

"SUB SANDWICHES TIMES TEN!" he yelled.

"Well, this spells it out. The mastermind has been revealed, and I think it's time to expose someone fer their true crimes," Vector said.

"W-Wait! No! P-Please! I beg you, hold on!"

"Shut UP!" I yelled. "I've taken so much abuse from you since we've arrived here, I've had it up to here with you. Don't even try denying it anymore, Rouge. You lost. You tried everything in your power to hide the truth, and guess what? It FAILED! Just like your entire plan! There's no more debate, no more place to run! It's time for me to reveal everything!"

 **CLOSING ARGUMENT**

"When we first arrived at Green Hills, we met Rouge the Bat, the Ultimate Jewel Thief. But, that wasn't the real Rouge. Instead, the girl we saw in front of us was the twin sister of Rouge, Opal the Bat, impersonating Rouge. As we all know, after Cream's death, 'Rouge', or in this case, Opal, refused to take any part in the investigation, leading to her early death at the hands of Egg Robo… or, Rouge! After her death, her body was put in the bio lab, which was used as a morgue until the time was right."

"As you know, it was after we unlocked the roof of the zone that Infinite's death occurred. Now, remember that Infinite was brought by the mastermind to first kill Vector, but then the target was changed to me after the mastermind realized just how dangerous I was becoming to them. After he failed Rouge's task, she likely shot him in the heart, killing him instantly. After that, she likely took Opal's body out of the bio lab in the time after Infinite's failed assassination and where everyone else was in the gym finding the damaged Egg Robo, knowing that was the best time that she knew no one would look on the fifth floor. This was likely done in an attempt to make sure that we didn't suspect anything weird if we wandered into the bio lab, since the murder took place on the fifth floor."

"And speaking of the murder, it was after she murdered Infinite in private that she set up the scene in the garden, where she used the trial to frame Vector for it. Because of these factors, we all assumed that Infinite was the true mastermind. Of course, after the trial, Infinite's body replaced Opal's in the bio lab, because by that point, we would know the truth if we opened up the fridges in the bio lab and saw that Opal wasn't Rouge. By blowing up Infinite's body and hiding Opal's existence, all of these were done to make it seem like one of us was the mastermind, and not her. That's right… this the proof behind Infinite and Opal's murder, the one who's controlling Egg Robo right now! The REAL Rouge the Bat!"

Everyone looked at me in awe and in silence.

"That's the real story behind this incident," I said. "Well, Egg Robo?! Any objections?!"

The robot stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Are you broken again? Goodness, your internal design must be terrible," Wave said.

"You can no longer hide, Rouge! Reveal yourself!" said Tikal.

"That's right! I'll.. I'll fight you!" added Silver.

"I bet you're probably so terrified to come out because a mastermind like you looks beyond tacky!" mocked Amy. "And trust me, I might be class shaming, but you're a mastermind, so time for me to do all the bullying I've wanted to do!"

"The game's over, Rouge. Ya lost. Now get out, NOW," the crocodile bellowed. He continued to stay silent until he looked up at us.

"…over? Ho ho… ho ho ho ho… You really think that just because you uncovered my identity, that means you won? That everything is over? Let me give you the shock of the century… this isn't over yet! We're just getting…"

Egg Robo held up some kind of device. I could hear Vector gasp.

"STARTED!"

"Everyone, down now!" Vector yelled as we all ducked under our stands. As soon as we heard Egg Robo press the button on the device, we heard smoke shooting out from somewhere in the room as the robot grew limp and crashed on the floor. Silver began to cough as more smoke continued to fall from the ceiling, I heard someone… or something fly into the room.

With the smoke clearing out, we all got up from the floor as I heard Tikal gasp.

"C-Charmy…" she whispered. I looked ahead and standing in front of me… dressed similar to how 'she' looked. She opened her eyes, and I saw… _her…_ for the first time…

 **Ultimate Despair**

 **ROUGE THE BAT**

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED…**


	50. Chapter 7 (Class Trial (Part 2))

**(AN: Another example of 'Wow I should have got this done sooner', but this time I actually have an excuse. Last week I had a COVID scare after learning my mom was in contact with someone who had the virus at her work and couple that with my horrific health anxiety and yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah... But I'm gonna try and get the final part of this trial and the epilogue out soon, because in 13 days, my next fanfic will release! And I won't say anything, but stay tuned until the finale to learn more!**

 **Meanwhile, it's time to finally meet the mastermind of this despair filled killing game! Enjoy!)**

* * *

If you had told me on the first day that I arrived here that Rouge the Bat, THE Rouge the Bat, was actually her twin sister and simply playing a part, I frankly would have laughed in your face.

But now that I was staring at the cold reality in my face, every emotion BUT happiness ran through me.

All this time, the reason there was so much death, the reason despair lined these walls…

It was all because of _her._

Her own sister wasn't enough, her partner in crime wasn't enough… No, she thought she could play god with all of our lives. I didn't know whether to be angry with her, or be fearful of her.

And yet, as the bat looked at all of us, she… suddenly got a crown from her pockets and put it on her head.

"We've been waiting!" Rouge said in a clearly fake posh accent. "Waiting SO very long for peasants like you to appear! Swear your loyalty to us, and we promise that we'll reward you with half of the world! Think about it, we give you the deed, and you have all the honor, status, and succulent fruit your heart can handle! So? How about it? Shall you serve us?"

I attempted to speak, but barely any noise came out. "I-I.. uh-"

Suddenly, she took off the crown and looked at us seriously in a flash. I was taken aback by how sudden her tone changed. "Oh, did you think I was serious? Sorry, just messing with you."

"I-I didn't even get the chance to respond!"

"And that's how I messed with you."

"More like interrupted me…"

"You gotta forgive me, it's been some time since I've had any company. I figure if I was one type of person, you all would get bored of me."

I didn't even know what to make of this. I expected Rouge to be someone like, 'Muwah ha ha ha! I'm the evil mastermind and you'll never defeat me!'. But… she was acting like a different person each time, and… it scared me how she was playing it campy or playing it seriously and how fast she could switch between the two.

The real Rouge the Bat… is truly like this?

"Anyway, I wanna like… thank you all? You all set me free from playing that role. Playing Egg Robo daily, 24/7. That dumb voice and all the dumb questions you all ask are like, seeped into my memory, you understand? Not being able to do anything else, it got boring after a while. Sure, I got to examine class trials but most of the time I was like… bored. You guys are boring, you know?"

"W-Wait a minute…" Amy said. "Y-You… You don't have a mole."

"I don't have a mole? Am I not correct without a mole? Is that what's in style? Come on, I have people collecting pictures of me daily, and you're telling me a mole could make that easier?"

"No… it's not that… I may not be into pop culture, but I have definitely seen your face before," Tikal added. That's when I suddenly remembered what Tikal was talking about. I've seen Rouge before, sometime before I arrived to Green Hills. And it was just what I talked about earlier…

"Because we all have likely seen it. Rouge the Bat, the Ultimate Jewel Thief, was known to have a lot of publicity around her. Plenty of magazines and tabloids talked about her like she was the next hot thing, even if what she was doing was illegal!" I said. "In fact, just a few days before I arrived to Green Hills, I even saw a magazine cover with you on the front at the grocery store!"

"Wow, what a good memory. Is that what happens when you're a normal plain kid? You pretty much don't remember important details that have happened in your life, but you remember that one time you were at a grocery store and you saw a magazine cover? No wonder you've survived so long," Rouge continued to say in her deadpan tone.

"So I was right… What you- no, what OPAL said… I knew when I saw her, she didn't match at all what you looked like on those magazine covers. She even said she either covered her mole with makeup or had her publishers digitally edit it out, mainly so she wouldn't get confused for her twin sister, Opal. And yet, she was talking about herself the whole time!"

"I'm not surprised that Opal's lie managed to bite her back in the end. I guess you need a lie to keep things moving along, no?"

"Even some of her mannerisms seemed a little different than what I would have expected. You've seen plenty of access to jewelry around this zone, and yet you made no effort to make it your own. Your sister might have the name of Ultimate Jewel Thief, but she clearly doesn't play her part too well," Wave said.

"Because I'm me and Opal is Opal. Gaia bless her, she tried her best, but she can't replace the original Ultimate Jewel Thief. Even if two are born from the same mother, the offspring are born with different body and minds. But even different bodies and minds can come together…"

Within a flash, her serious attitude dropped as she ruffled the fur on her head. "AND THAT'S HOW WE BECAME THE FUCKIN' DESPAIR SISTERS!" she said, her voice bouncing off the walls of the room. "Or as you little punks might know it, Ultimate DESPAAAAAAIR!"

"Alright, jeez "Ms. Rockstar"!" Silver said. "No need to yell! Besides, when did you suddenly act like a new person?"

"Cause I get bored, numbnuts! And because I get bored, I feel the need to gap in my personality with new ones! It's like I have some kinda personality disorder, 'cept I don't cause I've medically diagnosed myself 34,481 times! And yeah, I fuckin' counted! Ever wonder where I started cursin'? Cause I went fuckin' crazy counting!"

"Then tell us… why? Why did you kill your own sister?" Tikal asked.

"Cause it's for reasons deeper and darker than your little heart can handle, baby!... as IF!" Rouge suddenly shifted her mood from excitable to… calm as she took out a pair of glasses from… her chest… "Well, I better explain," she said in a tone a teacher would use. "For my plan to work, obviously someone would need to pull the strings from behind the scenes. The 'mastermind' as you all put it had to do several things: organize the killing game, operate Egg Robo, keep an eye on everyone, you get the picture. However, after looking at the simulation I had created, I realized that Opal was not up to task for impersonating me. Living in her sister's shadow… she tried her best I'll give her that, but one look at her and you'll know quickly that me and her have nothing in common."

"Okay, then tell us about Infinite," I said. Rouge was silent for a few seconds before speaking up.

"…on the other hand, Infinite was someone I had learned about during Opal's and my start as the Despair Sisters. At first, we wanted him to join us, but then he had to run off with his Jackal Squad doing Gaia knows what. Thankfully, he came back just in time to join me as my right-hand man while I dictated Opal and the rest of your lives here in this Zone life. Unlike Infinite, I felt Opal wouldn't have been much use to me, so that's why I felt her important to play her role in the game, at least, until she resisted. Seventeen students seemed fine enough to me, and after all, I knew Infinite was too expendable. Of course, there was a big issue as to why I couldn't just let Infinite participate."

"And what's that?"

"He had far too many issues. He was filthy, out of touch, and nothing more than a savage. I mean, would YOU bring in a mercenary to hang out with you all when he likely knew nothing of how to be a civilized person? That's why his role was to stay with me until the time was right, spying and reporting back to me as my second spy after Espio. That's why I had Opal play me. Even though my status as Ultimate Jewel Thief was very important, Opal was nothing more than someone regurgitating lines that wouldn't feel out of place in teenage movies, and therefore, no one would be shocked if an utter disappointment like her died. After all, you all likely saw her as some kind of slutty bimbo, am I wrong?"

I felt my face crunch up. I never even saw Opal this way, and the fact Rouge was openly referring to her dead sister like _THIS?!_

"That's… not your only reason, right?"

"No. I also did it not to get bored. Sure, Cream died at first, but…"

Rouge suddenly perked up her chest, holding them together with her elbows as she tried to look 'cute'. "…what's wrong with a lil' extra murder? Besides, you can go off plan sometimes, y'know!" she said in a high-pitched voice. "I planned everything out and even made predictions: who would die first, who would be the first to snap on motives. If everything happened to how I planned it out, that's boring! That's why it was so fun when things happened when I didn't expect it! So that's why Opal's death was nothing more than to make a point to you all!"

"In other words…" Vector said. "Yer sayin' that Opal's death was nothin' more than a one-sided betrayal? It's just as we were talkin' 'bout… 'Rouge' looked surprised when she was killed, even sayin' she 'didn't want this to happen', at least to that extent."

"So, biggo Vecco figured it out? Well, correct! That entire moment was Opal's most convincing moment! So much so that we need to give her multiple acting awards, and screw it, let's name the award show after her too! But… she did teach you all a lesson, no?"

I was stunned into silence. To think that everything was getting worse the more Rouge spoke. One part of me was filled with shock, the other with rage.

"Hm? What's wrong, dummy Charmy?" asked Rouge.

"…how? How can you… talk like this?" I said. "Yo-You just sacrificed your own sister for your little game?! Do you not even care?!"

"Hm? Me sacrificing her? That's why you're mad? Honestly, Charmy, you need to look at ancient Echidna history! They do plenty of sacrificing too, and yet I'M the bad one because I killed one person? Jeez, I feel so threatened! Am I gonna get exposed on social media and be forced to write a lame ass apology? I made my profile squeaky clean too! Not like it matters, all of us in Ultimate Despair never had hope or aspirations. So why does murdering one another have to be so bad? Infinite did it for a living and look at how fine he turned out! Nope! We all bonded by how much we felt despair since the day we were born! Everything about me spoke despair! When I cried, ate, burped, and pooped, they all had one thing in common: everything I did, I did for despair! That's why we did things without any kind of regret! That's why I let my trampy sister dress as me, and my only companion attempt to murder my enemies!"

"I can't believe everything you've told us so far…" Tikal said. "You murdered your sister and your only friend… and you treated it like they didn't even mind?"

Rouge hung her head and looked rather blue in the face, back to doing her little depression stunt. "No… that's not true at all… Opal was my twin and Infinite was the only person I actually felt like calling my friend… how could I not mind? That's why… it gets me… so… so… excited…"

I could see Tikal and Silver move a couple of centimeters away from Rouge.

"Killing my sister and my friend with my own two hands, watching them fade into their own despairs as I did it… It was filled with so much despair that I classified it into super despair. Super despair, you ask? It's the only kind I'll ever accept now… Those looks on their faces... it made me feel… so good…"

"What…" Silver squeaked. "…the fuck… is wrong with you?"

"You know… I can't help but feel jealous. All my life, I spent wandering this world trying to find what true despair is. I've done many despair filled events, and yet… nothing compares to taking Infinite and Opal's life. I sometimes even wonder when it's my turn to feel super despair, because only then will I feel like I had lived my life to the fullest."

"You… you frankly, are no ordinary person," Wave said. "You exist in this world to be nothing more than an abnormality."

 _"That's putting it mildly,"_ I thought to myself.

"Yeh've done nothin' but turn yer despair into… into some kinda fetish," Vector said. "No matter who the person, seeing them in true despair excited you to where yeh wanna keep doin' it over and over again. I dun even know where to describe it, but abnormality isn't what I call it."

"I mean, you make Rosie the Rascal look like an angel in church!" Silver added.

"You're saying I'm so horrific that I can't even be compared to a beast that kills for her own fetish too? But… isn't that what I am? Why is she so different? Is it because she doesn't follow despair like I do?... So what am I? Am I a hopeless jewel thief? A hopeless man magnet? Am I a hopeless perfect living being?" asked Rouge.

"No, there's nothing perfect about what you just said," replied Wave.

"Nothing perfect about me? But what about you? Are you still perfect?"

"…huh?"

Rouge grabbed the limb Egg Robo on the floor and put it over her body, shaking the robot and pretending to be him. "Ho ho ho! You lot haven't figured out that yet? You're slower than a bunch of badniks! This trial is all about solving all the mysteries, but I'm glad to see you all are so incompetent, you can't do it!"

"Does this have to do with our memories?" Vector asked.

"That's right! So I killed Opal and Infinite, big deal! So, here's a new mystery for you all: solve the mystery of your missing memories!"

"Of course!" I said. "We haven't forgotten that, and trust me, we'll find out by the end! And then… we'll have our victory!"

"Ho ho ho! I can't wait! A final battle between main character and villain? It's just what I wanted!"

"Alright then, let's just get straight to the point: What memories did you steal from us, Rouge?" asked Silver.

Silence from Rouge…

"We have plenty of answers," Amy said. "When the pictures were taken, the interviews… I'm not sure where we can begin! Ma-Maybe even our entrance exams! I've passed out doing tests before, I wouldn't be surprised if there were tests that just wiped your memory by how mind-numbingly dull they are!"

"Can you give us one hint?" the silver hedgehog asked.

"HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM…" said the bat. "No can do! Your brains are all nothing more than oil oceans! All dirty and mucky! And I even gave you a hint too! Your lost memories share something in common with a few other things! Now do you recall them?"

Your lost memories share something in common with a few other things…

Thinking back to what Egg Robo told us, the memories stolen from us and what they're connected to…

We all didn't want to leave in our interviews, and yet we all desired to leave because we didn't remember we said yes to agreeing to stay here… And what was used to bait us to leaving?

I gasped. "I got it! It's the motives…"

"Motives?' asked Tikal.

Rouge returned to her serious persona. "So, you remember. I'm surprised a scatterbrain like yourself actually bothered to remember. Of course, someone eventually had to remember, even if I didn't want it to be you. It was stupid of me to ask, so I apologize. Don't cancel me, I have plenty of followers on social media. So anyway, that aside, did you notice that each motive had a theme to it?"

"There was a theme?"

"That's my question. When Cream was murdered, what was the theme of the motive I used that led to her death?"

It had been so long, and yet I remembered it clearly when Rouge taunted me earlier… The video of my family…

Cream's had Vanilla in it, congratulating her on making it to Green Hills…

"It was our connections to others. That was the first motive," I said.

"Ding. Ding ding," she replied, deadpan. "Each of the tablets I gave you all contained a video featuring the destruction of your close relationships. For example, Charmy, your video showed your bee colony destroyed, Cream's showed her mom dead, and so many others… I destroyed them all and showed you the results. All to boost your desire to escape and to get you to kill. But… isn't it such a cruel thing to do?"

"You're the one who did this!" Tikal yelled. "I… I may hate my father, b-but I would never sentence him to whatever you caused in my video!"

"I don't care if you disapprove. After all, he'll never think of you as a disappointment because of you being a pacifist, no?"

She went back to her perky persona, with that… obnoxious high pitched voice. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKAY! Time for the next question! This is like a quiz, so pay attention! What was the theme of the second motive?"

This was the one involving Knuckles and Shadow… stemming from the envelopes with our deepest secrets. Mine mentioned how I used to sleep with a honey pot for years. That meant the second motive…

"…it's the past?" I asked.

"YAYYYY! Charmy got it right again! He's right, it's all about the past! As we all grow and evolve as people, we look back on our past selves and think, 'Why did I ever do that?'. And if you didn't, you're a liar! The reason Shadow did what he did was because he was so ashamed at who his past self used to be, he thought killing his only friend was worth it!"

"We get it, you just want to hear about our secrets," Wave said. "How long do you plan to drag this out?"

"Oh? Do you not want to hear about why Jet killed?"

I could see Wave bite her lip as I remembered the third motive: money. Jet killed because of his bet with Sonic, but was so enraged with him that he ordered Storm to kill him, and out of guilt, killed Storm himself. That meant…

"The third motive was greed," I said.

"YEEEEEEAH!" Rouge screamed as she changed to her hardcore persona. "With Jet being nothin' more than a penny pincher, I thought to have some fuckin' fun with that little bird shrimp! Watching him trying to resist all that money was funny! I knew he wanted it, even when he acted like he didn't! Sure Jet might have felt bad for what he did, but that doesn't change his sinful little soul! Someone who cared so much about his money, why did his friends matter if he could spare a few extra rings? Besides, he could probably buy a few new friends with that money!"

"Okay, we get the point!" I yelled. "It's painful enough having to recall everything! What's your reason for doing so?!"

"Oh, don't worry kiddy! It'll be explained soon! Now just two more to go! Now tell me: what was Blaze's crazy ass motive?!"

Blaze's motive? Well, it was that giant machine that could change anything about us. She wanted to get rid of her powers and felt they were a curse on her life. And she… couldn't accept it, of course!

"Self-acceptance, right?"

"Why of course," said Rouge, going to her 'teacher' persona. "By then, I had realized that the ones remaining were likely the ones to succeed in being here in this room for me. But I still needed one more way to rat all of you out. I used your loved ones, your past, and whether humanity's sin affected you, so I knew of one final thing to make you crack: finding out whether you accepted yourself and that even with your flaws, you knew that was a part of you. The machine was made so that anyone with self-hatred would be tempted to murder. Of course, Blaze hated her powers, so she killed Big to achieve her desire. Once she was exposed, it was at that point that I realized that the remaining survivors were no longer tempted to give into selfish needs, so there was no need to give out any more motives. At least, until Espio died. Tell us, what was the theme about Espio's death?"

The motive in his death? I knew that Egg Robo exposing Espio as the traitor was PROBABLY a little in part thanks to that, but the big picture in his death had to do…

"Betrayal," I said.

Rouge returned to her depressed self. "Of course… Once I revealed Espio's betrayal, that led to everything afterwards. Ugh, sorry. I would recount it but I'm getting bored. At least you answered all my questions, so I'm delighted but also in pain…"

"But what's your POINT?!" Wave questioned. "What, do you like telling us about the crimes you committed?"

"Relationships, secrets and the past, greed, self-worth, betrayal," Rouge said in her perky persona. "You look at it blindly and they seem like really normal, totally not weird motives!"

Putting on her crown, she put on her queen persona, and at this point, I didn't even KNOW how this girl could put on multiple performances in a flash of an instinct. Frankly, I think that's what helped in making her more frightening than we ever expected.

"But of course, there are upon thousands of reasons to commit murder. Think about it: nations commit murder daily and advocate it in everything like schools and festivals, all for a sense of nationalistic pride. Because what's better than bragging about murder? Bragging about unjustified murder WHILE trying to justify it! This, coupled with the many faces of murder, is what I like to call the seed of despair!"

"Seed of… despair?" Vector questioned.

"When you think about it, despair is harbored in environments like a plant. It could come after tragic events, learning about truths, many different reasons! And it's due to this that seeds of despair are planted everywhere! On the news, on the streets, we all have become so accustomed to living with seeds of despair in our minds all because they feed off their one source of nourishment: hope! Isn't it shocking that hope and despair are in unison, living together like star crossed lovers? But, hope and despair live on the same coin, the same path as one another. Could you dare say… hope and despair are one in the same?"

"Oh Gaia, I am REALLY starting to get sick of you," Wave growled, holding up her first. "Either get to the point, or I think there'll be a cat fight soon… Besides, this was supposed to be about our missing memories, and now you want to change the subject to something about hope and despair!"

Rouge put on her 'teacher' persona again, staring directly at Wave. "Oh, but, Wave… This is not a subject change. We ARE discussing your lost memories… I'm talking about the seed of despair because it's tied directly into your lost memories."

"How so?" asked Amy.

"By taking away your memories, I gave you hope. And you all had plenty of hope in the beginning, however, the purpose of the hope you had during your time at Green Hills was so that it would be consumed by despair."

"But I don't understand… we lost our memories, and yet… that gives us hope?" asked Tikal.

"Besides! You haven't given us any hope at all!" whined Silver. "I've been in 'What the hell is this girl talking about?!' mode since you arrived!"

"You all seem to not believe that even in a damned placed like Green Hills, hope cannot exist," replied Rouge. "And yet, something you all believed would happen was the chance for escape, no? It was all you desired, and it gave you hope."

"What's the point of this speech?" Wave asked.

"Because," 'Queen' Rouge replied. "If you all had the memories of you agreeing to staying in the Zone, you wouldn't want to leave. But once you erase those memories… you all think you can just walk out without any kind of consequence!"

"So…" Vector said. "The only reason we want to leave is because yeh took our memories of us sayin' yes, correct... correct?"

Rouge grabbed the limb Egg Robo and put it over her face. "Ho ho ho... You couldn't be any more correct!"

"Why in the hell would our memories being gone meaning we wouldn't wanna leave?! Just because we said yes doesn't mean I'd actually wanna stay here!" Silver yelled.

"Ho ho ho... it does sound confusing, doesn't it? But don't you remember? I create hope for the purpose of despair, and there's nothing more lovely than the sight of sweet, sweet distress. So, just like Charmy getting his brain all messed up because of aliens and turning into a six year old for continuity, I'm gonna give you a hint!"

Huh? Really!?"

"P-Please, you must tell us!" Tikal said.

"Jeez, calm down! It's not a race! Since you're all so desperate to get out, I think it would be best that you all got to see… the world outside this ring dimension…"

My heart stopped. Something about the way she said that… almost as if she was showing this to us for a reason. Why was it that the world outside this ring dimension was said in this type of tone?

I suddenly thought back to The Great Calamity and I felt a shudder. It… it had nothing to do with that, did it?

I could tell Vector felt like how I was feeling. His brow lowered. "So… somethin' really did happen out there.." he muttered.

"So, I take it you're ready to see the truth? Ready to see the world you're so desperate to return to? After all, you've been begging to be let back into it, I'm sure you'll love how it looks! And I'll love the despair I'll get to see on your lovely, lovely faces once you see the…" Rouge said, still holding up the Egg Robo robot as she suddenly took her right arm off and held up a remote. "…how your little world looks!"

Rouge pressed the button as all the TV's around us turned on. There was static on each TV, and the picture was very unclear. I wasn't sure if it was just static, but as some picture came on and I squinted to see what it was, each TV became clear.

And what I saw shocked me more than anything. I saw popular monuments around the world desecrated with the face of Egg Robo. I saw giant Egg Robo robots destroying large cities, even a giant Egg Robo shaped ship firing a laser at the moon. Worst of all, the next images displayed people in Egg Robo masks on the streets of a giant city, carrying weapons and attacking innocent people, burning and destroying everything in sight, and I even saw a group of mask wearing Egg Robo people carrying a woman with an unbuttoned shirt, a look of fear on her face.

This… this is what our world became?

Was _this_ The Great Calamity?...

Rouge hung her head as she put on her depressed persona. "Dangerous... The world outside this ring dimension has become so dangerous. Society forgets who they are and what they were, and act like this… Isn't it so sad?"

"What are you talking about?! This… how could this be our world?!" Silver questioned.

"What am I looking at?" questioned Wave.

"It's… it's like a riot… but… but this isn't right! I may not believe in violence, but I understand the importance of riots. They can be used for the causes of good when the unheard continue to be silenced! But… this isn't for a good cause… This… they're rioting in your name, Rouge!" exclaimed Tikal.

"It's like a movie! Tikal is right… they're rioting for despair!" Amy added.

"Are you sure? Because once you get a good look at this screen, you should be able to recognize everything…" said Rouge, continuing her depressed persona. What did she mean though? I don't recognize any of this… "The world outside of this ring dimension is locked behind the memories you lost. Even if you can't remember, try to come up with some answer…"

Ruffling her hair, Rouge returned to her hyper persona. "GYAH HA HA HA! Better put those lumps of cancer you lot call your brains into overdrive, because the answer is gonna determine whether you live or die! And don't even give me that, 'I don't remember' shit! That ain't a fuckin' excuse anymore! And you wanna know why, huh? HUH?! Cause it's time we continue with… the final class trial!"

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Come on bitches!" Rouge yelled. "Do you wanna die or not?! Then you dirtbags better start remembering! What the fuck happened outside?!"

"You want us to remember, but with that video you just showed us... I can't even remember a damn thing!" Silver yelled.

"What... what does that video mean? Is this some sick joke?!" Wave questioned. "Surely this isn't… our world?"

"You want us to remember this but... but how exactly do you want us to remember something we can't recall?!" Tikal gasped.

"If-if... If no one can remember anything... then... then we're all doomed!" Amy cried.

It was there that my heart skipped a beat. When Amy mentioned something about how 'no one' could remember anything, there was something that Rosie had mentioned to me earlier in the bio lab. Something about her and Amy not being able to share minds.

But… could it work? When Rouge took over Green Hills and erased Amy's memories, did she realize that Rosie didn't share the same mind as Amy?

…there was only one way to know.

"No, that's wrong!" I said, pointing at Amy. "There may be one person that can remember. One person who is the key to everything.

"W-Who?!" gasped Amy.

"Amy… there's something Rosie told me earlier in the investigation. She said that you both don't share the same memories. So whatever she's done, you don't recall, and vice-versa. Correct?"

Amy nodded. "Y-Yeah?"

"Where are you going with-" Tikal asked until she suddenly gasped. "AH!"

"That's right…" I said. "There may only be one person that knows what happened during The Great Calamity, and that's Rosie the Rascal!"

"Then that means Rouge didn't succeed when she wiped yer memories, Amy. She thought she had gotten rid of both yer memories, not just yers," Vector said. "Amy… listen to-"

Tikal interrupted the crocodile. "A-Amy, please! I know it's against everything I believe in as a pacifist to rely on the word of a serial killer, but Rosie is the key to defeating Rouge! Please! I beg you, you must become Rosie and let her expose the truth!"

Amy grabbed her quills and pulled on them. "N-No! I… I refuse to ever let her out willingly! She's everything I hated and you all think I just want to… just want to bring her out all willynilly?! How could you?!"

"Listen, _pinky_ ," said Wave sharply. "Maybe you don't realize this, but your life is on the line. If you know what was good for you, I think you'd do as we say."

"How **DARE** you all assume that I enjoy being Rosie?! No! I absolutely refuse! I want to help you defeat Rouge, not let the person who ruined my LIFE take over and take everything I worked so hard for-"

"Rosie."

I turned to face where that sudden voice came from, and it was from where Rouge and Tikal was sitting, It was Silver, but the way he looked was…

I didn't know what to say. His appearance was… striking. He had lowered his quills in a way that looked like Sonic. And his voice too…

"I know it's scary to turn into Rosie. But… you're our only hope. You're helping us by turning into Rosie. So please… do this for all of us. Do this to help us stop Rouge."

Silver was even doing his best to do a Sonic impression. Sure, it wasn't GOOD but… was this really going to work? Surely Amy wouldn't confuse him for Sonic.

But then she sneezed. And in that moment, I think from how he looked and sounded, her mind proceeded seeing and hearing Sonic instead of Silver. Within a flash, Rosie appeared.

"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~!" she said. "It's your favorite neighborhood serial killer, back once again to make a surprise appearance in the final trial!"

Silver shook his quills and put them back together, clearing his throat.

"Jeez… she did it so fast…" he muttered to himself. "Anyway, erm… Rosie? I… KNOW you like me and everything, but I'm being nice for a reason. I want you to do something for us. Look at the screens behind you and tell us if you recognize what's on it."

"Look at the screens? For what? You might be my darling Shirbua, but I wanna know why I gotta look at some scummy screen?"

"Because it has an important video on it of course…" said Rouge in her depressed persona.

"W-Who the hell are you and what are you doing so close to my Darling Shiruba?!"

"Oh… I'm the mastermind."

"The mastermind? Oh, nice to meet you! You know, we've been doing a lot of talking about you lately!"

"N-Nice to meet you too…"

"I frankly feel a chill knowing Rosie and Rouge are in the same room…" Tikal said.

"Look, forget about that, Rosie! Just turn around and look at the screens!" demanded Wave.

"Okay! Got it, captain!" Rosie proceeded to turn and squinted as she looked at the first TV in front of her. She began to turn slowly and looked at each screen with vigor, finally turning around to face us when made a full turn around the room.

"So? Does any of this look familiar?" asked Vector.

"Hmm… I can't say I'm knowledgeable on EVERYTHING! BUUUUUUUUUUUUT…. OF COURSE IT DOES!"

"T-Then you remember what happened?!" added Silver.

"Of course I do, mi amor!"

"Well? What is it?! Is this really The Great Calamity?" asked Wave.

"Huh? You really don't know about what happened during that time?"

"What do you mean what happened?"

"Well I can't really say if it's still happening or not, but what I can definitely say is that it was the world's tragedy!"

"The… world's tragedy?" Tikal said, head tilted.

"What, you don't know, small boobs?"

"The world's been fuckin' destroyed!" said Rouge back to her hyper persona.

"D-Destroyed?!" questioned Vector, holding his wrist.

"Explain yourself, NOW!" yelled the swallow.

"Ooh, gettin' real feisty with me, purple!" Rosie said. "Okay so, there was this really big awful event a year ago. That's The Great Calamity, you got me? And it was so awful that even this murderer was jealous by how much killing was happening daily! It felt like a manmade disaster, and yet everything played out like it was natural selection at its greatest hour! In no time flat, people fell into the world's tragedy, and that's pretty much what became The Great Calamity!"

"Anddddd… that's it?" asked Silver. "That was nothing!"

"Well geez, I never said I was knowledgeable in this stuff, darling! Stinky pinky saw it in real time! Why aren't you asking her?"

"We can't because her memory has been WIPED!" Wave slammed her fist on her stand. "She doesn't know anything because of Rouge, and that's why we're asking YOU, you dunce!"

"I may not be into girls but gooooosh, yell at me more, Wave!"

"Okay okay, enough of you getting weird, girly," Rouge said in her serious persona. "We have plenty of time to be inappropriate later. In the meantime, I'm sure it scares you all what you just heard. But it doesn't really matter anymore, does it? The world outside this ring dimension has ended. End of story."

"How can it just end?" Silver said, pulling his quills. "It's… the world!"

"Calm down, calm down. Why does it matter anyway? You're not in that dimension anymore. It shouldn't concern you because clearly you're still alive, no?"

"Now you're being ridiculous, _girl,_ " snarled Wave. "Maybe you can humor everyone else, but you can't humor me anymore."

"Well, if we're here making jokes, I have one for you. It's about the Babylonian race, which has given Wave and her friends an identity all her life."

"W-What are you saying?! Don't you DARE put the name of the Babylonians in your filthy mouth!"

Getting out her glasses, Rouge switched to her teacher persona. "I'm so glad you took the bait. You heard the word you care for too much and went at it like prey."

Letting the glasses fall from her face, Rouge perked up her breasts as she changed to her cute persona. "So um… I gotta question for Charmy! What do YOU think happened to the Babylonians?"

I looked shocked as I looked around, trying to find my voice.

"I… uh-"

"Correct!" Rouge said, taking out her crown and switching to her queen persona. "Well done, fool!"

"But I didn't even say anything… again…"

As if she was doing this in a blink of an eye, Rouge switched to her hyper persona. "Cause I got so fuckin' bored waiting for your slow ass, I decided to answer for you! Besides, why does it matter anyway? You would have figured out the answer anyway, but better to hurry it up and not wait like concrete drying!"

And in another flash, she changed to her cutesy persona. "So no matter what you pick, you still get the right answer! Isn't solving questions fun?"

And once again, she hung her head as she went with her depressed persona. "But… isn't it so depressing? Shouldn't being bored be considered a disease? Do you think I'm sick? Do you think I'm okay?"

"Jeez, it's like she switches personalities like it's no big deal…" murmured Silver.

"Anyway, like I said, the Babylonian race has been destroyed! Poof! No more! They all died!" Rouge said with Egg Robo over her face.

"W-What are you saying?! How-" Wave said, a clear sense of panic rising in her voice and face.

Rouge picked up her glasses and went for her teacher persona. "How? Don't even ask, I can confirm that the Babylonians have fallen and that they've all died. During The Great Calamity, the Babylon Garden has fallen and in massive disarray,"

"N-No! That can't be true! You're… you're lying!"

I gasped. This was possibly the first time I had seen and heard genuine fear from Wave. The idea that she was the only one of her kind left scared her…

The bat continued, putting Egg Robo over her face. "And to think that Jet, Wave, and Storm were the only ones left. And now look: they're down to only one. You better accept it soon, Wave! You're the only Babylonian left!"

"No, please! Stop! I… I can't be the only one left! I… We were supposed to find out the truth about-"

"Stop?" questioned 'Queen' Rouge, putting her crown on. "And for what? You tell us to stop with such an authority. You think you're being clever trying to act cool when you heard the news. And yet, a peasant like you thinks they have the right to question my authority. You better learn your place, girl! Being a Babylonian means nothing anymore when your family, your history doesn't even exist anymore!"

"How… how could they not fight against you? The Babylonians had… methods… defense… and… and…!"

"Methods and defense don't fuckin' matter when this whole world has gone to shit a year ago!" Rouge said in her hyper persona. "Why don't you stop acting like a baby and accept it? Or will that shitty pride of yours resist that until the very end?!"

That's when I stopped. All this talk of one year ago… One year ago, The Great Calamity occurred, one year ago this, one year ago that…

That's when I remembered…

"No, stop!" I said. "You aren't making sense anymore!"

"Huh?" asked perky Rouge. "I don't make sense?"

"You're saying that EVERYTHING, The Great Calamity, the fall of the Babylonians, all that, that it happened one year ago! And yet… we only came to this zone a few weeks ago! Hell, I remember when I arrived here first day! If there really WAS some world-shattering event a year ago, I'd remember cause apocalypses are one of my biggest fears!"

Rouge was silent for a second before slowly picking up Egg Robo off the floor and putting it over her face. "Ho ho ho… is it maybe because you're MISTAKEN about that?"

"M-Mistaken?" asked Vector.

"So… I think I get what you're trying to say, bee boy. You're saying that The Great Calamity happened a year ago before you arrived here."

"It makes sense!" argued Tikal. "It's as Charmy says! We only arrived here a few weeks ago!"

"…so… you REALLY believe you all came a few weeks ago. Didn't realize I took away that much…"

"What?" asked Silver. That's when I noticed Vector's eyes growing wide.

"Naw… yeh… yeh aren't-" he said before Rouge cut him off.

"Well, nothing I can do about that anymore! Doesn't it suck that you all forgot what happened two years ago didn't happen recently?"

"Two years ago?" asked Tikal.

"You all started attending Green Hills two years ago! Jeez, did I have to spell that out?!"

I felt like I had just gotten hit by a brick wall, as did everyone else. I didn't even KNOW how things could get worse. I thought learning the truth about The Great Calamity was the worst truth we could learn.

But… this? We… we've been here since two years ago? Then that comment she made…

 _'Didn't realize I took away that much'_ …

She… she didn't-

"Ah… ha ha ha…" Silver laughed. "Uh… guys? She isn't like… playing a joke on us, is she? It's all just an unfunny joke, right?"

"I can see why you're all skeptical," said Rouge in her serious persona. "I mean, no one really forgets two years of memories, but you can't deny the truth in the end. And the truth is like a boulder running down a maze filled with lava. Deny it and you might as well fall into a lava pit because whoever rules over your destiny can't work a track ball to save their life."

Getting her glasses from the floor, Rouge continued in her teacher persona. "So, you must understand everything so far, correct? Everything I've given you, no?"

"Come now!" Rouge traded her glasses for her crown. "Answer us! Do please, I LOVE to hear what answer you have for us all."

Tikal tried to find her voice in that moment, but only a whimper came out. "H-How… how can we answer?"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON ANYMOREEEEEE!" cried Silver.

Wave and Vector continued to stay silent as Rosie shrugged.

"Eh, don't look at me!" she said. I knew we had to find some answer. Everything she's told us so far leads to one truth.

If what Rouge is saying is true, we first came to Green Hills about two years ago. However, we only remember coming here within the last few weeks. So that means the memories she took from us…

"I got it," I said. "If we all accept what you're saying as truth, then what you took from us were the memories of our two years here at Green Hills after coming to the zone!"

Silver covered his ears. "Oh no! Oh no no no no nooooooooooooooooo! There are a LOT of things I can buy now since coming to this place! That frankly, I think tells me you've gone SENILE, Charmy!"

"G-Gah!" Rouge said, holding her chest. "A-Another correct answer! You should be in charge of Sonic's Schoolhouse! We hope you don't enjoy outdated graphics, of course!"

"Y-You aren't lying?" Tikal gasped, holding her hands over her mouth. "We… we lost two years of memories?!"

"That's all right! You already spent two years at Green Hills! And that time is what you've all forgotten!"

"How can I not remember the last few years of my life?!" questioned Silver. "It's impossible! I mean… think of… think of birthdays! How OLD am I?!"

"Old enough to where you guys can make sexual jokes and not be labeled problematic!" said perky Rouge. "I mean, I hate being cancelled online because of a comment I didn't think about for more than two seconds, so I had you guys wait until you were old enough to make those jokes! See? Even I care about the rules sometimes!"

"You care too much about being a puritan for being a monster you know!"

Ignoring what she said, I got Silver's frustration. I mean, if YOU found out you just lost two years of your life, I think you'd go a little crazy too. I wanna think that it's impossible and I wanna refuse to believe it. But I know what's what my heart desires. But if this is really the truth.. we have to accept it!

 **MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"Two years of memories?" Tikal asked. "How… how is that possible?! I... I could never forget such a thing!"

"We've been here for two years?!" Silver yelled. "That's impossible! I've never gone to any school events, had any celebrations or class pizza parties, hell I don't even remember going to ANY class!"

"Please... stop... this is too surreal..." Wave begged, hyperventilating.

"And besides, if two years did pass… THEN HOW OLD AM I?!"

"Ho ho ho... I love the confliction in this room!" Rouge said, holding Egg Robo above her face. I didn't know what our argument was for. At this point, we couldn't deny that we had lost our memories. It was seeping into reality…

And that's when I remembered. There was one thing I saw during the investigation that might be the only proof we had of us losing our memories. And I had to use it!

"Silver, catch!" I said, tossing him the notebook.

"Huh? What's this?" he asked.

"I want you to look at this notebook and tell us what you see."

Silver flipped it open as he got a look of confusion on his face. "Huh? Why is… my name here?"

"This is the only proof we have of us losing our memories. I found it in a locker on the second floor of the dorms. Please, if you mind, take a closer look at the notebook."

"Okay but… I've never seen this before, even if my name is on this page…"

Silver flipped to the next page, reading through his notes. And then the next, and the next, and as he continued to flip, his eyes grew wider and wider.

"What's wrong, darling? Is something up?" asked Rosie.

"It's… I don't get it… my name is here… and my handwriting it… It looks like mine too! No… it… it is! This is my handwriting! How?! I NEVER wrote in this!" Silver threw the notebook to the floor. "G-Get it away! What IS that cursed thing?!"

"That 'cursed' thing…" I said. "…is the proof that you attended classes here at Green Hills. And of course, you forgot like the rest of us."

"N-No! It's… it's a lie! I want to believe its just a lie! This can't be true!"

"Trust me…" Vector said. "I dun wanna believe it either. But I have mah own proof too. This pocketbook Charmy also found."

"Whose is that, huh? Didya steal it?" asked Rosie.

"Nah, it's mine. The handwritin' is also mine, no doubt. But just like Silver, I dun have any memory of writin' it."

"And that's because of our two years worth of lost memories, correct?" asked Wave.

"Ho ho ho!" Rouge laughed, Egg Robo over her face. "After seeing all this evidence, do you all have no choice but to accept the truth?"

Throwing down Egg Robo violently, Rouge switched to her hyper persona. "Isn't it just so fucking dark! It's like you all solved a mystery, only you did it at a site filled with burning kids and Chao! Shit man! I never been to a place like that, but you bet your ass I'm gonna plan my next fucking vacation there!"

I was left speechless. I mean, how DO you even reply to something like that?

"Two years of zone life," Rouge said, now switching to her serious persona. "How many memories have you lost? They say going to a zone is where you make all your memories, your friends, your happiest times. Isn't it just… bad losing it all? Not just losing that but having all that occur during The Great Calamity. Before you could all enjoy your new lives here, the world came crashing down. You all took in that despair, but eventually forgot. And because of you all forgetting, you made the choice to participate in this killing game. Oh and uh, one more thing… the memories you all PRECISELY lost were-"

She suddenly stopped herself and then hung her head.

"Actually… never mind… I got bored of explaining stuff… It's too hard…"

"You were just about to tell us!" yelled Silver. "Don't interrupt yourself NOW!"

"On the contrary!" Rouge said, switching to her Queen persona. "We have gotten bored of everything! Everyone in this world has such big dreams and desires, always talking to their loved ones about them. But do you think they all succeed in doing so? Do you all wish to know why?"

Throwing down her crown, Rouge went back (I frankly lost track at this point) to her hyper persona. "Because this world is so fucking boring!"

"Whaddya goin' on 'bout, Rouge?!" questioned Vector.

"What I'm going on about is that I'm jealous of you all," replied 'serious' Rouge. "You all gave yourself over to despair so quickly, I have never seen anything like that. Not even I could do anything like that."

"So figure out the rest for yourselves! I'm sick and tired of being the fucking exposition queen around here! Either you figure it out and get bent and die!" said hyper Rouge.

"Figure out what?" I asked. Rouge grabbed her glasses off the floor and put them on again.

"Figure out where your memories come apart. That's the key to solving the mystery."

Where our memories fall apart? She must mean when specifically we lost our memories. There might only be one time when that occurred… When I entered the Warp Ring…

"That's right!" I said. "The moment I lost my memories, it must have only been that day. After I entered the Warp Ring leading to Green Hills, everything around me turned red and I felt so weird and passed out."

"Wow!" said Rouge in her perky persona. "You still sure do like talkin', huh? I'm surprised your brain has that much power for a little person! Um… so I wasn't there to experience the whole memory loss thing, but I think you all can agree it happened when you all passed out taking the Warp Ring here, right? And your sense of time got messed up because of that too? I think it must have been something like that!"

"After I passed out, I woke up in a classroom desk and a letter by me. I THOUGHT some time had passed since I entered through the Warp Ring."

"Oh, some time passed! Two whole years exactly!"

"That's why everything felt so short," said Vector. "Cause our memories were wiped to make us think it was only just yesterday that it happened."

"You got it, girthy croc!" said Rouge in her hyper persona this time. "Two years of memories gone down the shitter! Which means when you shitheads met for the first time, it wasn't REALLY for the first time! Unaware of this, you all took time out of your slow day to introduce each other!"

"And yet, we really knew each other two years ago. That's what the pictures mean, no?"

Rouge put Egg Robo over her face. "Ho ho ho ho! Yup! That's correct! You all knew each other back then and were such close friends! You spent days and nights together, doing everything teenagers do, and look! Two years later and you're all killing each other! And for what? To escape into a world that's been annihilated! Ho HO HO HOOOOO! How tragic! Even if you all leave now, there's nothing you all can do about it!"

"Don't you forget: YOU set everything up to be like this!" I yelled. Rouge hung her head in response. "Oh, don't you cry on it now!"

"…I love you all so much…."

"What do you mean love?!"

"It's so strange isn't? You think because I set this up, I must be a cold-hearted, emotionless person? And yet… when our Zone life began, I thought about you guys all the time. It's only natural that I'd fall in love with each of you…"

"So!" said perky Rouge. "Since I love you guys so much, lemme tell you ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL about how I love you so much! All about the idea we – as the Ultimate Despairs- came up with the idea to bring despair to all of mankind!"

All of mankind? And the plan? Really? Only THREE people came up with the idea to bring the world to chaos, and… and it worked?!

"Let's go ALLL the way back at the beginning, two years ago, okay? Back to when you all arrived at this zone and we all had feely good times! Zone life was so amazing, with so much hope and happiness! Every day we learned, had fun, and it was a FRIGGIN' nightmare! You all enjoyed yourselves so much and having the times of your lives!"

And then she put on her glasses going for… wait for it, her teacher persona. "Of course, real peace doesn't last forever. So that's why after our first year… an event unfolded that hammered despair into all of humanity. This event known as The Great Calamity, the world's tragedy. Soon after, the peaceful world we all lived in where we could walk the streets freely without fear soon became a warzone filled with bloodshed. And yes, Green Hills was no exception. The Great Calamity even made its way here, leading to the deaths of most of the students."

"Deaths of… everyone but us?" questioned Vector. "What… what in the fuck are you?..."

"What do you mean?" asked 'serious' Rouge.

"Yeh can't be serious… yer REALLY tryin' to tell us that yeh, Opal and Infinite, three kids not even old enough to drink at the time, REALLY came up with The Great Calamity? How? How didja do it?! Was someone backin' yeh? An organization, or… or a mob? Someone with money and power to governmental facilities to create weapons of mass destruction?"

"Hmm… I see why you're asking that. If I had to say how we did it… it was because we had none of those things. It wasn't an organization, it was an ideology. You can subscribe to hope and speak out about injustice, or subscribe to despair to bring chaos for the purpose of chaos… You saw the videos. Everyone is capable of doing it, and now, the world has fallen to despair."

"In other words…" Rouge put on her crown again. "If despair is your true enemy, then the WORLD has become your true enemy!"

"I just… I'm tryin' to getcha…"

"Oh, excuse me! But WE didn't ask for YOU to understand us!"

This silenced Vector as Rouge hung her head.

"Okay, now back to the story…" she said. "Green Hills was beyond ruined after The Great Calamity arrived here, and you guys were some of the only survivors. Class 91 was the only class that survived when everyone else fell to it."

"And then!" said Rouge as she perked up her breasts again. "Then then then! Something AMAZING happened! So readers? You better read through this multiple times, cause it's the only time I'm EVER gonna bring it up! So… to protect the survivors, Green Hills turned itself from a zone into a shelter! That's right!"

Getting her glasses, Rouge went for her teacher persona again. "Now, there IS someone responsible for that transformation. Someone who turned this place into your prison. Do you know who that might be?"

The one who turned Green Hills into a shelter? There was only one answer.

"It could have only been the headmaster of Green Hills…" I said. I looked to see Vector, his eye twitching. "He wanted to turn this zone into a shelter to protect us. That's the reason those interviews mention us not being able to leave and if we can accept that. It's because the zone is a shelter! All to protect us from The Great Calamity and all the despair from outside!"

"I can't say I've seen those videos in some time, but I do believe that foolish man had something like that in mind, yes!" said 'Queen' Rouge. "The reason he did it is that once The Great Calamity was over, the ones in this zone could leave and bring about a new generation of hope and give a fresh start to society as a whole!"

"Can you believe it?" Rouge hung her head. "The headmaster put that much faith into you."

"Because we had the same hope as he did… We all believed that we could do our part as Ultimates, as heroes… to save the world when they needed us and bring a new age of hope."

"But who would have thought?" Rouge put Egg Robo over her face. "That creating the shelter was the worst mistake he could have ever done? Because you wanna know why? He was the headmaster, and yet had no ideas that the masterminds of The Great Calamity, the Ultimate Despairs, were already in the zone! So, the shelter to keep you all safe… became the cage that made it impossible for you all to escape despair! Ho ho ho hooo! I gotta thank your STUPID uncle, Vector! By letting us stay here, and by all accounts, Opal with her hiding skills, he really helped me a lot! I owe him one!"

"Don't. Put. His. Name. In-" Vector snarled as 'teacher' Rouge interrupted him.

"Yes yes, in my mouth. I know. But I haven't even gotten to tell you that it was you all that boarded up every exit and every window here. You all wouldn't see anything outside under the headmaster's direction, even if he made a roof inside so you could at least emulate how it was like to be outside."

"You mean we all trapped ourselves inside?" asked Silver.

"And then you all forgot about it," said hyper Rouge. "And started bitching at me at every moment of every day about how you wanted to get out! 'WAHHHHHH, EGG ROBO! LEMME SEE FROGGY! LEMME SEE THIS! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' Isn't it so FUCKING funny?!"

Grabbing Egg Robo, she put it over her face again. "And once the shelter was built, it was time for me, Opal, and Infinite to get to work! That's how the killing game began!"

And once again, she let Egg Robo go as she hung her head for her depressed persona. "Myself, Opal, and Infinite had come here, spending the last two years waiting for our plan to be enacted…"

"And THAT!" Rouge switched to her queen persona. "The moment when you all began killing each other was the grand finale of our global despair program! GDP if you so would like to put it!"

Putting her glasses back… ugh, frankly I didn't know HOW long she was going to continue doing this. Apparently, as long as we got annoyed by it, she'd continue. "And the only reason you all survived The Great Calamity is so that you could be the show of the final act of it."

"You… you let us live… just to kill?! How… HOW AWFUL!" screamed Tikal.

"Why? Why would you do that?!" I questioned.

"BECAUSE!" said 'Queen' Rouge. "This was simple more than just a battle royale! This was our orchestrated plan to destroy every micro organism of hope in this world!"

"What… are you trying to imply?"

"What I'm trying to imply?" said Rouge in her serious persona. "Well, there is a little bit of hope left out there, even if my plan was to destroy the concept of hope. So what do I do with the people unwilling to give up hope?"

She was silent for a few seconds before she picked up Egg Robo again. "Ho ho ho! Well? Why don't you tell me what I did?"

What the mastermind did to show everyone in the outside world? We learned that last case when we tried to reprogram the TV…

"You hijacked the airwaves, didn't you?"

"Yeah. That's what I'm talking about," replied serious Rouge again.

"I said it before, I don't know how you could do such a thing. Digital televisions and satellites are far more difficult to hack than anything from thirty years ago. The fact you actually still want us to believe that you had signals far more powerful than-" Wave said before she was interrupted.

"Believable. Because it was all to show the world the murders happening in this zone. A zone which, is supposed to be a spectacle of hope and the creation for tomorrow's heroes…"

"And THAT was the whole damn point of us being Ultimate Despairs!" Rouge switching to her hyper persona. "You know when I said it was the grand finale? That's why!"

Grabbing her crown, for the umpteenth time, she switched to her Queen persona. "The world watched as the students of hope fell into despair and began killing each other one after another. I told you before, didn't I? Despair is a disease that infects those filled with hope. Overtime, that hope turns into despair. And to think that it all came from television! The thing society says is bad for you!"

"By the way!" Rouge continued as she put Egg Robo over her face. "Since the first broadcast, a whole bunch of people have tried to come and rescue you!"

"W-What?! Where are they?!" questioned Tikal.

"Dead," said teacher Rouge. "I had the entire premises of the zone loaded with heavy artillery to prevent anyone from leaving. To think that people would die for mere children like you, well… at least their hope died with your little martyrs…"

"You… you… y-you… k-killed… them?..." Tikal at this point had collapsed on her legs. I could see a flow of tears coming from her eyes, the hopelessness resting on her face.

"I must thank you all. And please, do continue to falter into despair. After all, it's people like you who refuse to give up hope and push their beliefs onto the world. A world that would likely shun you in ten years, seeing you as nothing more than dead weight trying to convince people that the world can be changed. That's all you'll turn out to be. And frankly, they all deserved the final despair: death itself."

"We… we were pawns? Just using us to bring despair to the world?!" I questioned, getting angry.

"Well… yeah I guess!" said 'perky' Rouge. "But like, I gave you a second chance at life! And here you are now! Better to be here than laying in some cold room, huh?"

"You let Jet give into his inner despair… and… and because of you… the Babylonians are-" Wave snarled as she couldn't even finish her sentence. Had despair reached her too?

"Yeah! And because of what birdie said, you killed my Darling Sonikku!" yelled Rosie.

"Exactly!" I yelled. "You're so full of shit!"

"Jeez, Charmy! Getting mad with me before I even have the chance to explain why specifically you six were chosen while the rest of you dropped like flies! We made SOOO many memories and you all were my treasured classmates…"

"Actually no…" Rouge hung her head again. "That was a lie. I thought you'd falter in despair more if you found out a classmate betrayed you."

"And that's the truth!" Rouge grabbed her crown once again. "You wanted it, no? How do you feel? Do you feel lost? Do you feel hopeless? Do you feel like you can't stand up anymore? After all, you may have solved the mystery, but in the end, despair is the truth!"

"Yeh… seriously counted on the possibility of us solvin' the mystery?" asked Vector.

"And? So what? Everything culminating during the events of The Great Calamity was for us to be in this courtroom together. This is the very end itself, learning the truth and finding out how hopeless it was… Well? How would you feel? How would you feel if I opened the door to you and not revealed to you the truth? Would that be better?"

Vector was silent.

"This is nothing what your uncle could have prepared for you, _boy_. He spent all this time preparing for something he was never even ready to tackle on. And how did it end for him? Ah, yes! Dead! Faltered in despair like this world!"

"Yeh… h-how… how…" Vector as this point was lost for words, and I could tell by how he was shaking and the looks in his eyes that he was next to give into despair.

"By the way," Rouge moved onto her serious persona. "I should also talk about how all those motives I mentioned were meaningless. With the world ending and everything, if the killers you managed to discover were able to get away with what they did, what do you think would happen?"

"Please… no… don't say it…"

"That you've been murdering for no reason?"

Tikal could only whimper in response.

"It's so sad…" Rouge said in her depressed persona. "Locking yourselves up and then murdering each other to get out."

"Yeh did this knowin' we weren't random strangers too," Vector growled. "We were classmates, people who spent each day learnin' and havin' fun. And next thing yeh know… yeh throw us into this mess only to have us kill one another!"

"KYEHAHaa…" Rosie stopped herself. "Wait… no, even I feel a little bad laughing about that."

"We… we get it… we get it okay! You're this world's new ruler and everything and that's fine! But why?!" Silver screamed, shooting out his hand towards Rouge. "Why is nothing working against you?! My… my powers they don't! No, please! Someone help!"

Rouge put on her crown as she began to cockle loudly. "OH, what's this? A peasant begging for his life? Oh, we've never seen such a funny performance in our lives!" She then dropped her crown and picked up Egg Robo again, putting it over her face and continuing with imitating his voice. "But I'm sorry to say, but begging doesn't work! All I want it despair! I shouldn't need a reason to stop it or anything! Besides, why would YOU need your powers when they're more trouble to me?"

"W-What do you mean?"

"Hasn't your dummy dumb self realized that since you've arrived at Green Hills, you've been losing more and more of your powers? You came here being able to use your telekinesis perfectly, and now look! Not being able to do anything!"

Silver looked at his hands as he began to shake. "N-No… no! You aren't saying-!"

"That's right! What else besides despair would cause that?"

Silver screamed out loud as he put his knees on the ground, covering his head.

"Oh, no need to scream! Those powers were useless anyway! It's not like you really NEED them!"

"How… how did you do it?" asked Wave.

"Well… I could tell you all… but isn't it much better writing if I kept it a secret?"

"Damn it, woman! Tell us! If you won't give us a reason behind your little despair fetish, tell us at least how dorkfest there lost his powers gradually!"

"Ho ho ho… I don't need to repeat myself. You already heard multiple times what the answer was… No explanation, no understanding… what better explanation do you all need besides ultimate despair?"

Deafening silence loomed the room as everyone had a different face. Tikal with one of sorrow, Vector with one of anger, Wave with one of denial, Silver with one of pain, and Rosie with one of silence. I realized then and there that her plan worked. Despair had seeped into each of my friends.

And… and only one person could get them out of it…

I took a deep breath and looked up at Rouge.

"Stop," I said. "All this time, you've been blabbering about whatever! But WHY do we have a reason to believe ANYTHING you say?!"

Rouge shot up when she heard that, and slowly she let Egg Robo fall from her grip as she put her arms to her side. She stared at me blankly, not caring about anyone in the room but me.

"Huh?" she asked.

"You heard me! You keep saying that the world beyond this ring dimension is destroyed! But we aren't in our normal ring dimension, are we? Because of that, I'm not gonna believe you!"

"But why settle for truth?" 'Teacher' Rouge asked. "You've been given the facts and the data, why do you need actual evidence? Do you think someone like me would fabricate stuff just to make a point?"

Rouge got perky as she switched quickly to that persona, almost in… panic. "Are you saying you won't accept the truth unless you got out of here and saw it for yourself! Well, you don't wanna go out there! Once you leave here, you're all gonna be goners, I can tell you that! And trust me! I'm not lying! Does a sweet wittle girl like me look like she lies?"

I began to stammer. I only used this to bluff and I thought it worked at first, but maybe not as much as I liked…

"W-Well…" I said, looking around the room trying to find assurance. "Even IF it's true…"

 _"Come on… deep breaths, Charmy…_ " I thought to myself. "Even if it's true, I refuse to give in! I… I won't give up! And most importantly, I won't lose to you! For the sake of everyone you killed, for the sake of Cream… and… and Espio-"

"HUH?!" Rouge said as she picked up Egg Robo and put him over her face. "Everyone I killed? But you're the ones that killed them! I just gave you that little nudge! I never did anything! Besides, talk about hope all you want, but despair just comes naturally!"

Before she could continue to another one of her personalities, I cut her off.

"No, shut up!" I yelled. "This isn't a game! This is just murder! You stole our memories, gave us motives, dangled the carrot in front of us! YOU'RE just as responsible, if not the REASON there was even a killing game in the first place! Someone came up with the rules, right?! They didn't just pop out of nowhere! Wanna tell me who wrote them or are you too much of a coward to admit you're responsible?!"

"You make me want to go through all my personalities, boy," Rouge said this time in her serious persona. "That must be your hope, no? But I think we need to wrap this up soon."

"Huh?"

"Cause of the vote!" Rouge switched to her perky persona. "You didn't forget about that, right? Oh oh! And I should mention, since this is the last vote, we're gonna have some change of plans this time!"

"What plans?"

"Look at you all… boys and girls of hope… and me… single girl of despair…" Rouge said with Egg Robo over her face. "So, this vote will determine which one will be punished! So, if even ONE of you votes to punish hope, then it's a win for me, and everyone on side hope is punished!"

"Even just one person?" Tikal weakly asked.

"Oh, don't worry though! I won't be biased, so that means I won't vote!"

"You still got the upper hand!" Silver screamed.

"Guys, guys!" I said, trying to calm everyone down. "It's okay. No one would actually vote to kill themselves!... right?"

But as I saw my friends, I was getting VERY unsure about what we were all going to vote.

"Let me continue…" Rouge said, Egg Robo still over her face. "When I win, and trust me I WILL, to punish you guys, your final punishment iiiiiiiiiiis! Getting to stay here until you grow old and die! That's it! No killing, no super awesome cool death punishment, that's it."

"You'd just… let us live?" Tikal asked.

"Hey, that's a good thing, right?" Rosie added.

"I mean… if you're not happy with that," Rouge said moving onto her depressed persona. "Then go ahead and punish me. You're free to exit this ring dimension once you do so. Don't you want to enter a torn world where you're going to be dead in a day? Doesn't that sound like a wonderful world?"

"So no matter what, both choices suck?!" I yelled.

"WAIT!" 'Hyper' Rouge held her hand up. "Wait a sec! Just got hit with a little bit of inspiration seeing you, Charmy… Here's the thing! Dying of old age? No one wants that shit! It doesn't bring good ratings! You can be on TV forever and everyone would think you're a shell of your former self! Eventually you all gotta die eventually, right? So, here's what'll happen: I'm gonna pick one of you to experience the most heart stopping, most extreme punishment you've EVER seen!"

"W-Where did this come from?!" questioned Tikal.

"You made this new idea just to execute one of us?" added Wave.

"And the person I pick iiiiiiiiis!" Rouge said, raising her finger up and moving her arm around before pointing at me. "Charmy!"

"H-HUH?!" I questioned, my blood quickly chilling.

"Yeah!" Rouge said in her perky persona. "It's because for the past few weeks, you've been acting like a snotty, selfish, no good piece of shit who never knows to mind his own business and wants to play pretend hero so much when he doesn't even have any fans! I hate you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!"

With that declaration of hatred, Rouge switched to her serious persona. "So, you all have two choices. If even a single person votes for hope to be punished, then only Charmy will receive his punishment and the rest of you will live here in peace. But, if you desire to see me punished, then you must all leave this ring dimension. I promise to force you all out, where you'll die cruel deaths in your original world. Well? Don't you want to sacrifice Charmy so you can continue to live with no guarantee that you'll die?"

Sacrifice…

They… My friends… would never….

"Look at youuuu!" 'Egg Robo' Rouge taunted. "You look so weak and small right now? Are you afraid of a wittle punishment? Don't you believe in your friends?"

"I-I do! It's just-!" I replied. I looked around, and as I stared into each of my friends' faces, it had only sunk into me more how much despair had seeped into them. How much to a point where they would be okay with letting me die if it meant that they'd survive?

"I see you looking at your friends," Rouge said in her teacher persona. "Don't worry, I understand it can be scary to die. But I think its even scarier when you realize that all your friends have accepted that its futile to resist me."

And she was right. Everyone with their same expressions kept to themselves, letting despair consume their mind.

"It's so beautiful…" Rouge said in her depressed persona. "Seeing all of your lovely faces in despair… all here in this room… But… Vector… you wouldn't betray your dear uncle, would you?"

"Wh-whaddya mean?"

"He wanted you all to survive… that was his wish. That's why he trapped you all here… Wouldn't it be awful you returned to the world and you all died? Don't you want to honor his memory instead of joining him in the same hell he's in?"

Vector could only shake as he dared not respond. I didn't even know why they couldn't fight back. Was her influence that strong? Was this the ability of the Ultimate Despair?

"Vector, please! Help me at least!" I said, reaching out to him, but to no avail.

"Nice try kiddo, but tough fucking tiddy!" Rouge replied in her hyper persona. "My despair caused you all to seal your fucking fates! It's so hopeless! Look around you, bee bitch! Who do you think is gonna crack first and sign your death warrant! Better start praying to any gods you know!"

It…

It truly felt hopeless now.

Was this… despair? Was this how it was like to feel despair? I… I didn't want this. I don't like this…

As I was feeling like I was losing myself more and more, I stopped.

"No… let me tell you something, Rouge," I said. "No one here is going to give into despair! Even if everyone here may be under your little spell, I'm never going to be your puppet! That's why I won't lose!"

And with that, for the second time, she stared at me blankly.

"Hm. How boring," Rouge replied in a… normal voice. "Is this why they waited 8 years to bring you back only to make you a nuisance? No wonder boys like you are so stubborn. But very well, we can just hurry up and get this over with. It's time for our final vote. And trust me, Charmy, we WILL see whether your hope or my despair has reached your friends' ears. And let me tell you… from how things look, your stupid hope and your stupid life will be in the ground where the same worms will eat them both!"

I stared back into her blank, soulless eyes. This was it: our final argument. Everything that I've done has come to this. I knew that I had to use all my hope to get my friends against this vile woman of despair. Even if my friends are infected with despair, I have to make them remember hope, to let them know that they can never give up.

And most important… I have to let them know that a world of despair isn't worth anything!

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED**


	51. Chapter 7 (Class Trial (Part 3))

**MAKE YOUR ARGUMENT!**

"We won't give up..." I began, holding my hand to my chest. "For as long as there's hope, giving up will never happen! Giving up is something I refuse to do!"

"I figured I should remind you…" Rouge replied. "But, if I die... then that would be the end of Green Hills Zone."

Silver continued to cross his arms, face in pain.

"Is it a good time to remind you as well that the air outside is very polluted? In fact, the only reason we're all standing here is thanks to the air purifiers in the physics lab."

Tikal continued to sob.

"And if I die, then those purifiers stop, and your communal life here comes to an end. That means this building can no longer be your safe zone."

Rosie turned her head away from me.

"ALL of you will leave. You'll go to the outside, where only death and despair are knocking on the door."

Wave bit on her finger, confliction and anger consuming her face.

"So, what will you do little bee? Will you just die? Is that what you want? I think that's the only result that should come from this."

Vector held up his fist in silence and anger, shaking as he tried to form a word. I looked around the room, trying to wonder why no one would speak up.

"There's no longer a world of hope, not in your outside world, and not within these walls. It's as bleak and empty as this room, the final reminder that all beings have succumb to the emptiness of despair itself…"

As I tried to argue back, a… heart symbol with an X appeared on my stand. It… it was a penalty?!

"Better start coming up with an answer soon, because once you have five-"

Rouge held up a remote and pressed a button, giving me another penalty.

"It's game over."

"Shit!" I said to myself. If I didn't do anything, we'd all be consumed with despair, and everyone here would be content with letting me die! How? How could I let my friends hear my words?!

She said that hope no longer exists…

But what if it's a hope that isn't already around for me to use? What if it's… my own hope!"

"Penalty for thinking!" Rouge yelled, giving me a third penalty.

"I have my hope right here!" I replied. "A hope that you never killed!"

"And another for bluffing!"

And with that, four penalties appeared on my stand. The bat gave me a Cheshire smile as she held up the remote one last time. I could feel the room turn dark as the only noise I heard was my heartbeat.

"Time'ssssss _uuuuuup_ , Charrrrrrrmyyyyyyyyyy…" she said in a venomous tone. Just mere moments before she could press the button for the final penalty…

I held my arm out towards Silver. "Silver! Don't lose hope now!"

The hedgehog breathed deeply before suddenly grasping his quills. "For someone who has ESP, it should have been so easy to simply throw Rouge and to kill her now," he said. "But... but my powers don't work. And.. and it feels like I have to stay here..." Silver then yelled. "Augh! No! We… We can only live by moving forward! And I want to keep on living! That's why I'm kinda..." He looked around, fumbling his fingers. "Ah ha ha... afraid of death... So that's why I have to get out of here! That's why I have to forget about my psychic powers for now and focus from my heart!"

Rouge shot up as she dropped the remote. "W-What?"

"Tikal!" I yelled. "Don't lose hope now!"

The echidna girl sobbed and sniffed to herself, as she looked up at me, messing with her braids. "You know… throughout this entire trial, I've been doing some thinking," she said. "And I wonder something... if Grandma were here, what would she tell me? I think… it would be something like... adversity and hope makes one stronger, even in times of sadness and darkness. She'd always wanted me to believe in hope and in change so that the world will become a better place. She always told me that whenever we were peacefully protesting, but I never got the true meaning behind it. But... now I do! I've made up my mind! Charmy, I'm going to use my years of pacifism, and my knowledge as a future maiden to give you the hope you need!"

"Wait, this is illegal!" Rouge yelled as I interrupted her.

"Rosie! Don't lose hope now!"

The serial killer turned to face me blankly before maniacally laughing. "EE HE HE HE! You know, I don't care what really happens in the end anyway! To be fair, I never really did like this whole Zone crap anyway! All Stinky Pinky ever wanted to do was to shop all day, but I guess you can't learn that way I guess! Oh, but if we're gonna get out of here, then my Darling Shiruba has to come with us! And besides! There's still ONE more order of business! And that's that the little mastermind bitch has gotta pay her divine retribution for murdering my Darling Sonikku!" she yelled, holding up her Piko Piko Hammer.

"E-Enough with this disgusting-" Rouge tried to use her Queen persona to stop me, but failed as I moved onto the next person.

"Wave! Don't lose hope now!"

The swallow stopped biting her finger as she turned away to face me, She let out a soft chuckle. "Ha. Look at you, giving me hope and inspiring everyone," Wave said. "It's real sickly sweet, shorty. It's so sickly sweet, I think I'm going to throw up. Did you even think that as much as this tripe has wounded me, that I'll give up like that? No. She may have gotten to me with her words, but I refuse to give into despair. And besides, even if the Babylonians fell, even if Jet and Storm are dead, I'm still alive, so therefore..." She pointed at Rouge. "The Babylonian race still exists! So why don't I make the biggest mechanical piece the world has seen and send this girl to hell straight where she belongs? It's the least I can do to avenge Jet and Storm."

"W-What?! Y-You can't!" Rouge said, stepping back from her stand.

"Yes we can, because I have faith in myself!" Silver smiled, beating his chest with his right hand.

"Because I've made my decision, to use my voice for good!" Tikal added, holding her hands to her chest.

"Because I'm gonna keep on living because I have my darling's love!" Rosie held her hands to her face, letting her tongue roll out her mouth.

"Because I promised that I would have the mastermind's life, no matter what," Wave smirked, arms crossed.

"Because we have one final piece of hope to give out!" I said. "Vector! Don't lose hope now!"

Vector opened his eyes as he looked up at me. He sighed and placed his hands on his stand. "Mah uncle... there's so much I wanted to tell him... All this time, I thought I hated him, and even now I'm not sure. But I think there was somethin' he wanted us to do: not abandon yeh, Charmy. I'm sure of it. We might not know everythin', but that's okay, we don't have to understand it all. Charmy, yer standin' in front of all of us fer a reason, givin' us the hope to stand up to Rouge. I don't think ya were selected by pure dumb luck or because life hates yeh, nor do I think ya came here as an 'average student'. Ya came to confront despair, and despite yer 'average' status, ya did it while never givin' up. And because of that... I don't think ya deserve to be called the 'Ultimate Average Student"... nah, how about a more suitin' title? How about... the Ultimate Hope?"

"U-Ultimate… Hope?! What the hell are you?!" Rouge bellowed.

"M-Me? Ultimate… Hope?" I repeated. Was… was this who I was? Was I never just some average joe who landed in a super successful zone by chance? Was I here to defeat despair in the end? All this time, I felt like I wasn't a hero and yet… I proved my worth with my hope.

Rouge slammed her hands on her stand. "NO! Is THIS how it ends?!" She continued to slam her hands. "With the most uncool person on the entire planet being the Ultimate Hope?! Your stupid faces, stupid words, STUPID WAYS YOU TREAT EACH OTHER! It's all because of HIM!"

She slammed at an alarming rate. "A GOOD FOR NOTHING, NOT EVEN LIKEABLE CHARACTER! Think about it! You LOOOOOOOVED playing hero so much, despite the fact you're probably the Sonic fandom's most HATED character because of how annoying you are! Tell me, who would EVER want to read a story about you?! Who'd even want YOU as the hero?! No one, because that's because no one could even stand a minute with YOUR annoying ass! I have so many more fans, so much love and attention, for longer than your ass could ever WISH you had!"

And then, this amounted to her continuing to slam harder and faster. "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUP! IM FRANKLY DONE IF THIS HALF-BAKED, SHITTY BENCHED CHARACTER IS GONNA UPSTAGE THIS RELEVANT GAAAAAAAAAL!"

I simply stared at Rouge as she continued her tantrum. "Say what you want Rouge, but I'm not some kind of elite," I said. "Hope isn't something I developed overnight. But that doesn't mean I'm still… I'm still done!"

I felt everyone around me vanish as Rouge and I were the only ones in the room.

"For Gaia's sake, you suck! This uncool little boy is my enemy?! How lame! How could you ever dare stand against me?! Hope is a joke you know! Because the outside is only despair! So your idiocy ends here," she said, going on an unhinged rant. "In fact, you're scared aren't you? But why? I mean, I just LOOOOVE despair! Why can't you just open your heart into the possibility of despair for the future-"

My eyes widened as I found the one sentence to set her straight.

"Because Hope keeps on giving!"

The bat screamed as she pulled her fur off her head.

"Enough with your little crying!" I continued. "I'm not giving up, getting bored and letting despair take over! Wanna know why, huh?! In fact, let me tell you! Because my desire to make a new future is what keeps me going! That's why I continued to have hope all this time!"

Rouge's eyes were wide as she held her chest. "What… what is this? What's happening to MEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!"

"Everyone," I looked at my friends. "It's time."

"Time to end this with the vote," Wave added.

"Just gotta… pull the lever, right?" Silver continued.

"I haven't been more happy to end a trial," Tikal said as she grasped her level.

"HOPE MY DARLING SONIKKU GIVES YOU A SPIN DASH IN THE AFTERLIFE!" Rosie yelled.

"May this vote end these trials, end these killings with our own hands!" Vector growled as everyone grasped and pulled their levers. I was about to pull mine when I felt a sudden breeze on my shoulder.

In that moment, I swore I heard a whisper.

 _"Pull the lever Charmy, it's okay."_

I turned around, and for a very brief moment, I swore I… I saw apparitions of all my deceased friends smiling at me. Cream, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Sonic, Storm, Jet, Big, Blaze, and… and Espio… Before I could respond, their apparitions vanished from my vision as I shook my head.

"…thank you," I said, turning around and pulling Rouge's lever as all of the levels lowers. The 'Egg Robo VOTE' slot machine fell in between the stands for the last time displayed the same slots, only this time, when the reels of the machine began to slow down, it stopped on a triple of Rouge's picture. 'GUILTY' was displayed in L.E.D. lights as rings shot from the machine. The slot machine rose up... and we knew that it was over...

And I could finally rest knowing… this was the last one…

 **CLASS TRIAL #7**

 **END**

* * *

Rouge collapsed onto the floor as we all surrounded her, anger on our faces.

"What… the hell…" she said, breathing heavily.

"I'll tell ya what the hell is up," Vector said, "Yeh lost, Rouge."

"I… lost?! No! I can't lose! It can't beeeeee!"

"Jeez, accept it!" Silver yelled.

"Even the Ultimate Despair herself is in despair over her situation," Wave added.

"But she shouldn't try to fight it. Let her pay her punishment for the cruelty she's caused," Tikal growled.

"That's right! Lemme at her!" Rosie yelled as Silver tried to stop her.

"BECAUSE IT'S JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUST!" the bat yelled before… smiling. "TOTALLY THE BEST!"

We all jumped when her expression turned to one of happiness.

"Huh?" I asked. Rouge began to laugh as she looked at her shaking hand.

"So this… this is despair… Myself, my sister, and some army nobody came to this zone two years ago, created our incredibly detailed plan, and even killed both of them for it! And to come this fair and fall so hard! It's the best, ultimate despair I could ever ask for!"

"What are you going on about?"

"Don't you see? THIS is the Ultimate state of despair I've truly been searching for! Thank you, Charmy! My defeat has shown me how much despair I could be in, and how I waited so long since the day I was born to experience despair like this! My first and last moment of colossal despair! My death! Ahhhhhh~ I'm so happy right now!"

"She's… enjoying this?" Tikal asked, disgusted.

"That means nothin' right now," Vector replied. "So, admit defeat now?"

"Ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaa…" the bat laughed. "What? You think I cared about whether I won or lost? It doesn't change a thing! No matter what choice you picked, the final answer is despair, always awaiting you no matter where you go!"

"Oh, shut up," Wave said. "Let me tell you something right now, where we're going, we have no need to fear despair or expect it."

"Exactly! Because we're going outside with hope!" Tikal added.

"Cause Charmy told us that we have to!" Silver laughed. Rosie laughed alongside him until the silver hedgehog stopped.

"Guys…" I said.

"Rouge, yeh said that despair is like a disease and an ideology. But couldn't ya say the same of hope? Because all ya gotta do is look at us and see how true that is."

"Vector!" I buzzed up to the crocodile and hugged him, the detective rubbing my helmet.

The bat looked at us with her blank look before coughing violently and gagging. "UGHHHHH! I think I'm gonna be sick! Stop it with all that gross hope talk and gross hope faces! Fine, let me say one more thing. Wanna obsess over hope? Be my guest! I don't even care anymore! But just be warned: despair will continue to exist in your lives. It doesn't end at just me you know. No matter where you run and hide, even if you find hope, in the end, despair finds you all. Do you still plan to cling onto hope knowing that?"

"Of course, cause-" I said before she interrupted me.

"Oh you ESPECIALLY don't start! I don't even wanna hear it! Besides, I'm almost done, because soon it's punishment time, right?"

"…I know we made that promise earlier but… yeh sure ya still wanna go through this?" Vector asked.

"You said it, right? The promise?"

"Hold on!" I said, holding my hand out to Rouge. "I know we did but it's not like I WANT you to die-"

Rouge slapped my hand and got in my face. "STOP IT YOU! How many times do I have to tell you?! Living gives me no hope! Killing no longer gives me the pleasure of despair it once did! I don't have to listen to your ideological ass when I know all I want is the sweet taste of despair that only comes when you die! So stick your tongue back in your mouth and SHUT UP, BEE!"

She ran off to the chair and revealed the red button Egg Robo used to push for executions. She looked at it and began to giggle.

"Ho ho… ho ho ho! So… this is how despair feels when you die… I must say, it's better than I imagined…" she said. "Even if only I'm dying… I want this planet to feel every last drop of this despair as I'll feel! Okay… let's do this! My extra special punishment, my final gift of despair to this world! Let's give it everything we've got! It's PUNISHMENT TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HO HO HO HO HO HO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Rouge slammed her fist on the button, breaking it as for the final time, the curtains opened up to reveal a screen. An 8-bit black and white sprite of Rouge against the same red background popped with the same game over music began to play. Soon, words began to display.

 **"CONGRATULATIONS!**

 **Rouge the Bat has been found guilty for the murder of Infinite the Jackal (as well as being the overall mastermind)**

 **COMMENCING EXECUTION!"**

* * *

 _Rouge stood alone in a black backdrop, waving as multiple sets began to build behind her. She cared not for them, and continued to wave as sets rose from the ground, crashed behind her, or even almost crushed her from where she stood. When they all formed, Rouge smiled as she knew what was coming next._

 ** _Execution:_**

 ** _Ultimate Punishment for the Ultimate Despair_**

 ** _TAILS ABUSE_**

 _Rouge smiled as she let herself bounce between each bumper, racking up continuous points with each bound. More and more ring TV boxes fell on her as her point counter went up and the bumpers crushed her, her point counter glitching out due to too many points._

 ** _ATTACK OF THE KILLER ARK!_**

 _Rouge held her arms out as she continued to get shot, not caring that chunks were coming out from her at an alarming rate._

 ** _THE GREAT EXTREME GEAR TOURNAMENT QUALIFIER! RACE THE FINISH!_**

 _Rouge zoomed past all the Extreme Gear racers, pulling off a cool trick than landed her through an airplane engine but coming out sliced but okay. She gave a thumbs up as she passed the finish line._

 ** _EXTINGUSHED FLAMES_**

 _Rouge meditated inside an active volcano, sweating profusely as a canon above her shot into the volcano, spontaneously erupting it._

 ** _THE GREEN HILL MOBILE-H BLAST_**

 _The same machine that destroyed Ditz began to strike at Rouge's back, giving the bat a good massage as she read a beauty magazine while doing so._

 ** _ZOOMING AROUND AT THE SPEED OF SOUND!_**

 _Rouge waved as she was put in the same rocket that killed Vector's uncle, shooting into the sky and coming back into the ground._

 ** _DISCIPLINARY WORKER ACTION_**

 _Experiencing the final despair her classmates went through before they died, Rouge could feel the heat behind her as she sat atop a desk, wearing her crown and holding an Egg Robo plush as she rocked herself back and forth. She smiled and gave a thumbs up, knowing she'd finally get to end it all in despair with the last execution that should have worked. But just as she felt her back about to reach the flames…_

 _The flamethrowers stopped._

 _Rouge suddenly looked up, and in a brief second, a large rock crashed above Rouge, crushing the bat and coating the underside of the rock with her blood as rings scattered everywhere._

 _It was with that crash that the remaining survivors noticed something fall at their feet from the wreckage, a sole remote that said 'EMERGENCY OVERRIDE'. Charmy picked it up and knew where he and his friends had to go._

* * *

As Charmy, Vector, Tikal, Silver, Wave, and Rosie all got into the elevator, Charmy took a deep breath as he got one last look of the portraits.

 _"…so, this is how it comes to an end,"_ he thought to himself. " _The final class trial… Rouge the Bat, the Ultimate Despair… Life at Green Hills… finally ended…"_

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7**

 **Despair Hill Zone Act 3**

 **END**

* * *

 **Living**

Amy Rose/Rosie the Rascal

Vector the Crocodile

Charmy Bee

Silver the Hedgehog

Wave the Swallow

Tikal the Echidna

 **Deceased**

Cream the Rabbit

Opal 'Rouge' the Bat

Miles 'Tails' Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Shadow the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog

Storm the Albatross

Jet the Hawk

Big the Cat

Blaze the Cat

Espio the Chameleon

Infinite the Jackal

Rouge the Bat

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **(AN 2: And so, the end of despair has come. Egg Robo's true identity has been revealed to be Rouge the Bat, who faked her death by disgusing her twin sister, Opal as herself, and the one responsible behind The Great Calamity and the ruined outside world...**

 **But with her defeat, what does this spell for remaining six survivors? Find out in the Epilogue, coming soon! Maybe... tomorrow since it's REALLY not that long)**


	52. Epilogue

**(AN: And so we've reached the end of another story! Hang on until the end of the story, where my second AU will tell you guys what's next!**

* * *

 _But even after saying it was all over… it still felt odd. The building didn't explode or trap us in. Rouge kept her word, and sure enough, we could feel the aftereffects of the air purifiers turned off._

 _But besides that, no special ending was left for us. Nothing changed, and nothing felt off sans that one thing._

 _And it was that one occurrence that told us it was time to leave._

* * *

 **TheHunterPersian presents...**

 **Despair Hill Zone**

* * *

 **EPILOGUE:**

 **Goodbye, Despair Hill...**

* * *

We all stood in front of the large door in the main hall, staring right at it. Nobody made a sound as we stared at the door in front of us.

In truth, I felt… absentminded. I never thought the day would come where we'd finally get out. Who knew where everyone was? What were they doing? Were they okay after the events of The Great Calamity?

It was almost like we were stuck in limbo, unsure of what to do next. We said we wanted to get out but now that we were here…

"Hey, Charmy," Vector said, breaking the silence. "Gonna press that button anytime soon? We can't stay here forever."

"I-I guess I should…." I replied. Grasping the remote I had gotten after Rouge's death, I thought about how all this time, she had this remote until the time of her death.

"…I can't help but wonder… is this truly it?" Tikal asked. "That remote surely can't be it."

"Dun read too much into what Rouge said to find the answer, Tikal," the crocodile replied. "She said so herself. We all had to leave if we punished her. It makes sense that it would be our key."

"B-But what if it's like a button to self-destruct the Zone?!" Silver questioned. "And look!" He extended his arm out to a downed security camera, where it began to glow and move by Silver's command. "I finally got my powers back thanks to Charmy's hope, and now I'm gonna lose 'em?! She never SAID she was gonna let us leave alive!"

"I understand the fear."

"And you aren't gonna assure me?!"

"But even so, to fear our only way out means to disobey what Rouge wanted. She did what we wanted her to do, now it's only appropriate we leave here," Wave replied, arms crossed.

"I… guess that's true."

"OH MI AMOR!" Rosie laughed as she glomped the hedgehog. "There's nothing to fear as long as I'm here! I'll beat up any kind of explosion that comes your way, even if it comes at the cost of my clothes-"

Rosie suddenly sneezed, causing Silver to audibly gag and push the pink hedgehog off of her. She shook her head and opened her eyes, revealing that she had transformed into Amy. Amy put her hands over her mouth as she looked around.

"W-What? Hey, what's going on? Where are we? Why aren't we in the courtroom? Where's Rouge?" she asked.

"You don't need to worry about that anymore, Amy," Tikal said, running up to her friend and taking her hands into her own. "She's gone now. We're about to leave."

"L-Leave? T-Then that means?!"

Tikal nodded as Amy began to sniffle. And then…

"WE'RE FINALLY FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she cried, falling to the floor and sobbing in happiness. She placed her hands on the floor and continued to sob.

"Take all the time ya need, Amy. But try to hurry it up, Rouge said we gotta leave soon before the air purifiers bein' turned off kill us all," Vector replied.

"Hey… so I don't think any one of us have really talked about it but… what happens AFTER we leave?" Tikal asked.

"I… I still think that… I dunno…" Silver rubbed his right arm. "Part of me still wants to believe that once we leave here, everything Rouge said was a lie. That back in our normal ring dimension, it's our normal world."

…that would be nice. To believe in a lie like that…

But I feel that's not what life would throw at us. Despite that…

"Just remember, no matter HOW it looks, it's still our world," I said. "And… we're the hope of the future now."

"I… guess so…"

"And… and think about this… even if the world is ruined, it's still a large world. Out there, we can use our talents and our hope for the benefit of saving our future. The whole point of Green Hills is to create a zone for heroes. And that means… we have to be heroes for the people. Despair will still exist no matter what, but… hope does too, right?"

"In a ruined world, the act of searchin' fer hope by itself could be the true meanin' of hope," Vector replied. "For as long as ya hold onto hope, ya can continue movin' forward no matter what trouble ya fall into. Isn't that whacha believe, Charmy?"

"Y-Yeah. You frankly put it better than I could."

"Well, look at you," Wave said, walking up next to me. "Going to be the next motivational speaker it seems? Well, with how much you clamor on about hope, you might as well already be at that stage. Besides, Rouge said there were others out there who still haven't cast away hope. Maybe I should find them and have them help me continue finding more information about the Babylonians. And… maybe once despair is eradicated and life goes back to normal, I'd like to go back to Extreme Gear racing…"

"If the world isn't as destroyed as Rouge wanted us to think, my… my first step is my favorite mall! It always helps me feel better no matter what!" Amy smiled.

"But what are you gonna do if there IS no more malls?" questioned Silver. The pink hedgehog looked troubled for a second until a lightbulb went off in her head.

"Then I'm gonna do my best to rebuild my community! If we can start anew… we can make things be even greater than before!"

"How inspiring!" Tikal said.

"That's right!" added Silver. "If you have no road, just build one… The means of creation and rebuilding are endless… And my powers… I've used them for the sake of good when things have been destroyed! Nations destroyed by war, natural disasters… so many places have been changed thanks to me, and now my workload is gonna be increased but… all for the sake of hope, no?"

"As for myself… I… I probably should finish my maiden training. But I know I must use my voice of pacifism to bring peace from now on. Maybe with my voice, I can bring about a hopeful future… Grandma… if you can hear me, I want you to know that I'm going to improve this world and continue your legacy. I just hope you support me from the heavens…"

With everyone staring at me, Vector smiled at me. "Well kiddo… Even if the world is in pain, even if they're gone, even if they're mad with despair, as long as yer around, I know I can go forward."

"Yeah," I replied. "And not just me too. Don't forget-"

"…Espio… yeah, I know. If we can get out there and do somethin'…"

"But what can we do? There's so few of us and we're so small as well-"

"Dun think like that. We can do anythin'. As long as hope resides in us all."

We turned to face the door.

"This is goodbye…" Tikal said. "Goodbye to this zone… and the ones we lost… But… as long as we carry the souls of the departed with us, we can leave here with a smile on our faces."

"I'm gonna be out there, making real change! Using my powers not just to look good, but to bring about a new era of hope once they see me rebuilding and starting anew!" Silver added.

"I'm sure you all know how much I hate being annoyed but I suppose if I'm leaving with all of you… well, I guess you can say I grew a fondness for you all despite my status. I suppose you can humor me with your presence for a bit but remember; any news about the Babylonians and come straight to me."

"I guess I am worried about what things are gonna come…" Amy said. "Are my favorite things to do gone now? Surely they can't. I mean, I lost my Darling Sonic… but… but Sonic isn't the only thing in life anymore. I can now go back to doing what I love while still remembering in what he believed in. I never knew being a shopper meant I was a hero but… now more than ever, I feel like I'm on the road to becoming one!"

"It does feel kinda strange…" Vector continued.

And finally, I finished off. "I… don't know what else to say. But… I guess we all graduated, right?"

As I pressed the button to open the door, I realized that hope was going to spread, as long as I never gave up. I had to push even harder, go forward with hope in my heart, with courage in my heart. And as long as I had those…

The door began to open, and when it did, I noticed a large warp ring just like the entrance. Smoke blew out from the door as we all felt a cool breeze from the circular room.

Before we took a step inside, Tikal stepped in front of us.

"Um…" she said.

Wave groaned. "Oh, what now, pacifist girl?! We're about to leave, what could it be?"

"I… I know this is going to seem very silly but… what of the dead bodies?"

"What about them?"

"Can… can we go back for them?"

We all looked shocked.

"What are you thinking?! Heavens knows how long we can stay here until its unsafe to breathe, and you want to go back for the bodies?!"

"I-I know it seems selfish but… Grandma always told me that for the spirits of the dead to finally rest, they must have a proper burial. I'm still only a maiden in training but… but I feel that I can bless the bodies once they've been buried. Please, I know it's a large favor but-"

"Uh uh, not touching dead bodies!" Silver said.

"Neither am I!" added Amy.

"Our lives are more important right now, pacifist girl," Wave growled. "Do you not care or-"

Tikal got in her face. "Wouldn't YOU want Jet and Storm to have a proper burial instead of forgetting about them?"

This changed something in Wave's expression as she softly gasped. Amy even looked down at her feet.

"I… I suppose that my Darling Sonic could be buried next to Tails…" she said.

"…then let's make it fast," I said. "I feel… Espio would wanna be buried too."

We quickly made our way to the fifth floor and burst into the bio lab, where it had stopped being cold and was starting to warm up. Silver used his powers to unlock each door and open them up. Carefully, he lifted every body using his ESP.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay with that?" I asked.

"Don't worry…" he said, holding his forehead. "I… got this!"

Wave and Amy came back from the garden, holding multiple shovels in their arms.

"Let's just hope there's still soil we can dig in," the swallow said. Carefully, we all went back to the main hall, where thankfully no one was dropped. We all stood by the opened door as all the bodies of our deceased friends levitated behind us. Tikal took out her prayer beads and began to chant beautifully, leading us to the warp ring. She danced her way to the warp ring and waited for us as we all put our hands on the warp ring, the world around us turning white and vanishing as we felt our bodies leave this ring dimension, and head to our proper dimension…

 **THE END**

* * *

 **(AN 2: And at last, with almost 2 years of writing and 11k views, Despair Hill Zone is finally finished.**

 **I'll be honest, this project went on a LOT longer than I expected so I apologize if any of my viewers wanted anything different. Now, you may be asking if I'll ever adapt Danganronpa 2. And while I've thought about the idea, considering how much longer 2 is to 1, I'm just gonna say to not expect an adapatation of 2 anytime soon.**

 **So what IS next?**

 **Well, I have a coming fic for Father's Day soon but its related to Suikoden and not Sonic, so there's that. There is PS All Stars Round 2 which I have listed as planned under my upcoming projects but with how long Despair Hill took, I think I want some more time with planning that so give me a bit more.**

 **But besides that, it's time for my surprise reveal that I teased a few parts ago!**

 **As I'm sure you all know, my college Vecpio AU, Transfer, will be turning 5 years old this next coming week. And to celebrate the occasion, I've decided... well...**

 **To spell it out easier, why don't you rejoin me this June 26th back at another semester at Mobius U for a redo of the events you saw in Transfer?**

 **With that out of the way, thank you for reading and for all your reviews. I know adaptation fics are not normally common but this was something I felt has helped me write in the past couple of years since writing. But with Despair Hill over, here's hoping we can return to regularly scheduled fics...)**


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